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BV  4515  .B36  1898 

Banks,  Louis  Albert,  1855- 

1933. 
Anecdotes  and  morals 


/ 

/\NECDOTES 

AND  A\oR/\LS 


A  VOLUME  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 
FROM  CURRENT  LIFE 


/ 
By      V  ^/ 

Rev.  Louis  Albert  Banks,  D.D. 

Pastor  First  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
Cleveland,  Ohio 


Author  of  .  .  . 

Cbrist  an^  "Bfa  JFden^g 
Ubc  t^cvival  ffluivec 
Ummortal  Songs  of  Camp 
and  jfield,  £tc. 


jfunR  «S  tClagnalls  Compani? 

New  York  and  London 


Copyright,  1898 

BV 

FUKK  &  WAGNALLS  CO. 


\Registered  at  Stat  toilers'  Hall,  I^otidoti,  Enghtnil\ 


Frinttd  in  the  United  States] 


"Co  Hy  friend 

The  Rev.  Isaac  K.  Funk,  D.D. 

The  Preacher's  Benefactor 

This  Volume 

Is  Gratefully  Dedicated 

By  the  Author 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE. 


The  contents  of  this  volume  have  not  been  gathered 
either  from  books  or  from  the  religious  press.  They 
are  almost  entirely  composed  of  incidents  happening 
throughout  the  world  within  tlie  last  few  mouths, 
which  have  been  seized  upon  to  point  a  moral  and 
illustrate  some  important  theme.  I  have  gathered 
here  five  hundred  and  fifty-nine  of  these  anecdotal 
arrows,  to  which  I  have  prepared  an  index,  with  cross 
references,  which  I  hope  will  make  the  contents  easily 
available  to  every  reader.  I  have  had  in  mind,  in 
the  preparation  of  this  volume,  the  desire  not  only  to 
furnish  a  volume  of  useful  illustrations  for  the  use 
of  preachers,  Sunday-school  teachers,  prayer-meeting 
leaders,  and  other  Christian  workers,  but  to  suggest 
how  like  incidents,  v^hich  are  occurring  every  day  in 
the  year  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  may  be  utilized  by 
the  public  speaker  to  freshly  illustrate  divine  truth. 

Hoping  and  praying  that  the  book  will  furnish 
windows  into  many  a  rich  treasure-house  of  God's 
Word,  this  volume  is  sent  forth  on  its  mission. 

Louis  Albert  Banks. 

Cleveland,  Ohio,  November  39,  1S98. 


ALPHABETICAL  AND   TOPICAL   INDEX,  AND 
CROSS-REFERENCES  TO  CONTENTS. 


PXGK 

"A  Little  Child  Shall  Lead  Them,"         ....  89 

Abraham's  Angels, 266 

Absurd  Barbarism, 88 

Abundance,  but  No  Waste, 341 

Abundance  Waiting  on  Appetite, 188 

Acquaintance  with  Christ, 187 

Adaptability,  The  Value  of, 93 

Adrift, 247 

Adrift  on  the  Sound, 50 

Agitation  the, Price  of  Progress, 81 

Alchemist,  The  Heavenly, 208 

All  is  Not  Gold  that  Glitters, 366 

All  Treacherous, 337 

Alligators,  Re-Stock  with, 303 

American  Queens, 224 

Anchor  of  Hope  in  Christ, 20 

Anchorage,  The  Sure, 43 

Animal  Appetites 213 

Appetite,  Abundance  Waiting  on, 188 

Applause,  A  Little  Brief, 19 

Appreciating  One's  Friends 43 

Appreciation, 168 

Archbishop  Eeproved, 331 

Arctic  Flowers, 345 

Armies,  Continental,  Total  of, 134 

Armor,  A  Bullet-Proof, 318 


Vlll     ALPHABETICAL  AND   TOPICAL  INDEX. 


Atmosphere,  Be  Careful  of  the, 
Atmosphere  of  the  Home, 
Atmosphere  of  Sunday  Newspapers 
Attendance  at  Church, 
Average  Folks, 
Awakened  Conscience,  An, 
Awful  Waste  of  Sin,  The, 

Backslider's  Sorrow,  A,   . 
Bad  Company  for  a  Christian, 

Bad  Reading 

Banner  of  the  Cross,  The, 

Barriers,  Brotherhood  Breaks  Down 

Battle,  Going  to,  "Well  Armed, 

Be  Careful  of  the  Atmosphere, 

Be  a  Treasure-Seeker, 

Be  Ye  Also  Ready,  . 

Bearing  One's  Own  Burden,     . 

Beautiful  Friendship, 

Beauty  of  Holiness,  The, 

Bees,  Drunken, 

Bell,  Story  of  a,       . 

Best  Investment,  The, 

Best  of  the  Wine  at  the  Last  of  the 

Better  as  We  Go  On, 

Better  Day  that  is  Coming,  The, 

Better  Days,  A  Memory  of, 

Beware  of  Insignificant  Dissipations, 

Beware  of  the  Poisoned  Bite,    . 

Beware  of  Recklessness,   . 

Bewildered  Souls,    . 

Bible,  Risen  Christ  the  Life  of  the, 

Bible,  Vitality  of  the. 

Bide  a  Wee  and  Dinna  Fret,     . 

Big  Aleck,  Experience  of. 

Bird  Tactics,    .... 


The 


All, 


Feast 


,  The 


FAGB 

.  367 

.  217 

.  76 

.  249 

.  255 

.  100 

.  75 

.  173 

.  97 

.  316 

.  270 

.  Ill 

.  178 

.  367 

.  231 
54,  127 

.  59 

.  237 

.  350 

.  360 

.  219 

.  414 

.  344 

.  344 

.  287 

.  22 

.  259 

.  211 

.  214 

.  113 

.  258 

.  129 

.  163 

.  295 

.  145 


ALPHABETICAL  AND   TOPICAL  INDEX.       ix 


Birds  Blown  Out  to  Sea, 

Birds  Cotniug  Back, 

Birds  of  Prey,  Giant, 

Bite,  Beware  of  the  Poisoned, 

Bitter-Sweet,    .... 

Blessing  the  World, 

Blindness  of  Sin's  Slavery,  The, 

Blood  on  the  Bank-Notes, 

Blood  Will  Tell,       . 

Blooming  Through  the  Snow, 

Blue-Blooded  Sinners, 

Board  the  Gospel  Ship  Again, 

Boarding  the  Ship  a  Second  Time, 

Bondage,  Rescued  from  Sin's, 

Bonds,  Self-made,    . 

Bound  to  Appetite, 

Brave  Policeman,  A, 

Bravery  and  Promptness, 

Bread  of  Life,  The, 

Bread  of  Life^  Burning  up  the, 

Brief  Applause,  A  Little, 

Bringing  Our  Treasures  into  Service, 

Broken  Weapons,  The  Sinner's, 

Brother  Men 

Brother  unto  Brother, 
Brother's  Signal  of  Distress,  A, 
Brotherhood  Breaks  Down  All  Barriers, 
Brotherhood,  Christian,    . 
Building  of  God,  We  Have  a. 
Building  on  the  Rock, 
Building  up  Character,     . 
Bullet-Proof  Armor,  A,   . 
Burden,  Bearing  One's  Own, 
Burning  out  Our  Sins, 
Burning  up  the  Bread  of  Life, 
Business  Ingenuity, 


PAQE 

.  196 

.  304 

.  261 

.  311 

.  304 

.  182 

.  63 

.  232 

9 

.  326 

9 

.  403 

.  403 

.  210 

.  57 

.  320 

.  411 

.  52 

26,  401 

.  26 

.  19 

.  288 

.  166 

.  266 

.  287 

.  3 

.  Ill 

.  213 

.  165 

.  147 

281,  399 

.  318 

.  59 

.  194 

.  36 

.  146 


X        ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX. 


Business,  Mastering  One's, 
Business,  The  Golden  Rule  in, 
Butterfly  Christians, 

Caged  Heads, 

Capital,  Using  Our,  So  as  to  Increase  It, 

Captured  by  the  Indians, 

Carbonized  Money -Getters, 

Care  for  the  Children, 

Carrier-Pigeons  from  Chilkoot  Pass, 

Caught  in  the  Quagmire, 

Caught  Under  One's  Own  Sail, 

Chain  of  Good  Deeds,  A, 

Chains  that  Bind  the  Soul, 

Character-Building, 

Character  Developed  by  Little  Deeds, 

Character,  Saving  Power  of  a  Good, 

Character,  Strong,  How  to  Build,    . 

Character,  The  Tatooed, 

Christ,  Traits  of,  Show  forth  the,     . 

Cheerfulness,  The  Medicinal  Value  of. 

Child  Among  Lions,  A, 

Childhood,  The  Keen  Perceptions  of, 

Children  and  the  Church,  The, 

Children,  Care  for  the. 

Children,  The  Sorrow  from  Disloyal, 

Children,  The  King  and  the,    . 

Children  of  Our  Cities, 

Chime-Room  of  the  Soul,  The, 

China's  Progress  toward  Civilization, 

Chinook  Wind,  The, 

Chivalry  in  Homespuns, 

Choked  Well,  The, 

Christ,  Acquaintance  with, 

Christ,  Despair  of  Sorrow  Without, 

Christ,  Giving  Our  Best  to,     . 


ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX.       XI 


Christ,  The  Heroism  and  Faithfulness  of, 
Christ,  the  Risen,  The  Life  of  the  Bible, 
Christ  in  Nazareth,  .... 

Christ  Our  Captain,  .... 

Christ  Stood  in  Our  Place, 
Christ,  Show  forth  the  Traits  of, 
Christ-Hope,  The  Darkness  of  the  Tomb  Without, 
Christ's  Fisherman,         .... 
Christ's  Offer  of  Salvation, 

Christ's  Patience, 

Christ's  Sake,  Taking  Risks  for, 
Christian  Brotherhood,     .... 
Christian  Denominations, 
Christian  Economy,  .... 

Christian  Fellowship,      .... 
Christian  Fellowship,  Strength  in, 
Christian  Graces,      ..... 
Christian  Graces  in  the  Midst  of  Worldliness, 
Christian  Hope  Sustains  Many  an  Invalid, 
Christian  Life,  The  Perfume  of. 
Christian  Optimist,  The, 
Christian  Soldier,  The,    . 
Christian  Soldier's  March,  The, 
Christian's  Credentials,  The,    . 
Christian's  Race,  The, 
Christianity  and  the  X-Rays,   . 
Christianity  a  Fountain  of  Warmth, 
Christianity  Means  "  Together,  " 
Christianity,  Practical,     . 
Church  a  Fortress,  The,   . 
Church,  The  Children  and  the. 
Church  Up-to-Date,  The, 
Church's  Quarry,  The,     . 
Cigarette  Smoking, 
Cigarettes,        .... 
Citizen  Soldiers, 


PAOE 

380 
,  258 
.  235 
.  226 

888 
,  282 
,  67 
.  245 
.  79 
.  237 
.  355 
.  212 
.  225 
.  96 
6 
.  301 
.  350 
.  345 
.  314 
.  207 
.  25 
.  216 
.  6 
.  226 
.  313 
.  410 
.  311 
.  331 
.  37 
,  252 
.  116 
.  386 
.  317 
.  284 
.  387 
.  862 


xii      ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX. 


City  Pastor's  Dream,  A, 

City  Streets,  Heroic  Citizenship  Needed  in, 

Civilization,  Cooperation  in  Modern, 

Claimants  to  a  Rich  Inheritance,  The, 

Clean  Hands,  The  Relation  of,  to  Spiritual  Power, 

Clean  Heart,  A.        .         .         .         . 

Closing  Hours  of  a  Bicycle  Race,     . 

Clothed  with  Forgiveness, 

Coin,  New  (French), 

Coining  Better  Ideas  of  Life,   . 

Colors,  Dishonoring  Our, 

Colors,  Showing  Our, 

Comfort  and  Refreshing, 

Common  Duties,  The  Hallowing  of, 

Common  People,       .... 

Common  Sense,         .... 

Communication  with  God, 

Communion  with  God, 

Conditions  of  Spiritual  Growth,  The, 

Confessed  Himself  a  Thief, 

Confusion  and  Din  of  Worldliness, 

Congenial  Occupation,     . 

Conquest  of  Joy  over  Sorrow,  The, 

Conscience,  An  Awakened, 

Conscience,  Elasticity  of. 

Consuls  in  the  West  Indies,  The,      . 

Consideration  for  Others, 

Continental  Armies,  Total  of,    . 

Convictions,  Having  the  Courage  of  One's, 

Convinced  of  Sin,  yet  Fascinated  by  It, 

Cooperation 

Cooperation  in  Modern  Civilization, 
Cords  of  Friendship  and  Sympathy, 
Corrigan  (Archbishop),  Lenten  Circular  of. 
Costly  Road -Bed  for  a  Railroad, 
Countenance,  Evidence  of  the, 


ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX.     Xlll 


Counterfeiting  Christianity,    . 
Courage  of  One's  Convictions,  Having  the, 
Courage,  Gladstone's,      .... 
Courage  to  Remain  Beliind,  The,    . 
Courtesy  of  General  "Washington,  The,    . 
Cowardice  Contagious,     .... 
Credentials,  The  Christian's,  . 
Crept  In  with  Mother,      .... 
Crime,  Hereditary,  .... 

Crispi  Monument,  The 

Croaker,  The, 

Cross,  The  Banner  of  the, 

Crown,  A  Lost, 

Cruel  Driver  Brought  to  Justice, 
Cry  of  the  Soul,  The,  .... 
Cure  for  Crime,  ..... 
Currents  of  Life,  The,  .... 
Cutting  the  Wire,  ..... 
Czar's  Great  Estate,  The, 

Daily  Newspapers 

Danger  of  Delay  in  Dealing  with  Little  Sins, 

Danger,  Flying  into  the  Face  of,     . 

Danger  of  the  Fog,  The,  ... 

Danger  of  Losing  One's  Reckoning,  The, 

Danger,  Pulling  People  Out  of, 

Danger,  Running  into,  for  Another's  Safety, 

Danger  of  Selfishness,  The, 

Dangerous  Love  of  Display,     . 

Dangerous  Multiplication  of  Evil  Thoughts, 

Dangerous  Ride,  A,         .... 

Dangerous  Sink-Holes,     .... 

Dangers  to  the  Home  Nest, 

Daniel's  Habits,  One  of,  ... 

Darkness  of  the  Tomb  without  the  Christ-Hope, 

David's  Habits.  One  of.  .... 


PAGE 

.  272 
,  233 
.  227 
,  75 
,  347 
,  191 

226 
,  260 
,  298 
,  399 
,  858 
,  270 
.  406 
,  27 
,  83 

298 
,  120 
,  264 

159 

,  92 
388 

,  377 

,  280 

85 

170 

287 

,  276 

323 

383 

310 

242 

125 

252 

67 

249 


XIV     ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX. 


Dazed  by  the  Smoke,       ... 
Dead  Man  at  the  Helm.  A,       .         . 
Dear  God,  Love  Me  When  I'm  Naughty; 
Death  Always  Near,         ... 
Death  to  the  Christian,     . 
Death  in  the  Diamond  Pit, 
Death  in  Life,  .... 

Death  in  the  Midst  of  Life, 
Death  No  Longer  a  Blind  Alley, 
Death,  Riding  to,    . 

Death  in  a  Trunk 

Death-Trap  in  the  Saloon, 

Death-Trap,  Setting  a,     , 

Debts  of  Sin,  The,  .... 

Deception,  Self-,      .... 

Deepen  Religious  Experience, 

Defend  the  Young, 

Defending  the  Weak, 

Delay  in  Dealing  with  Little  Sins,  Danger  of 

Derelicts  in  the  Churches, 

Deserted  Enthusiasms,     . 

Deserted  Gold-Mine,  A,   . 

Despair  of  Sorrow  without  Christ,  The, 

Despise  Not  the  Little  Things, 

Destiny  Hanging  on  Humble  Honesty, 

Devil's  Sleuth-Hound,  The,     . 

Devotion  to  Liberty, 

Diamonds  among  the  Rubbish, 

Diamonds,  Smothered  in, 

Dickens  as  a  Companion, 

Discipline  Ourselves  to  Regular  Efifort, 

Discipline,  the  Power  of. 

Discouragement  and  Worry,    . 

Dishonesty,      ..... 

Dishonoring  Our  Colors, 

Disloyal  Children,    .... 


ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX.       XV 


Disobedience, 

Display,  Dangerous  Love  of,   . 

Disputes,  Settlement  of,   . 

Dissipations,  Beware  of  Insignificant 

Distress,  Shutting  Our  Eyes  to  a  Brother 

Divine  Image,  Traces  of  the. 

Divine  Wisdom,  The, 

Do  It  Now, 

Do  Not  Dally  with  Little  Sins 

Do  Not  Find  Life  a  Cheat, 

Do  Not  Wait,    . 

Doing  His  Duty, 

Doing  Honor  to  Parents  by  a  Noble  Life 

Dominion  of  Man,    . 

Don't  Worry  Society,  The, 

Dormant  Seeds, 

Draining  the  Marshes, 

Drift- Gold,  Saving  the,    . 

Drifting  Soul,  A,     . 

Drink  Did  It,   . 

Drink,  Murder  and  Suicide  in  the, 

Drink,  Strong,  the  Fools  of, 

Driven  Back  to  Refuge,  . 

Drunkard's  Remorse,  The, 

Drunken  Bees, 

Drunken  Father's  Crime,  A, 

Duties,  The  Hallowing  of  Common, 

Duties  which  Can  Never  be  Transferred 

Dying  in  a  Pullman  Car, 

Earnestness  Needed  in  Soul- Saving, 

Ears  to  Hear, 

Ears,  Open 

Easter — The  Rising  One, 
Easter  Hope,  Responsibility  for  the, 
Easter-time,  the  Inspiration  of. 
Eaten  Up  of  Sin  and  Frivolity, 


's  Signal  of, 


PAGE 

.  896 
,  323 
.  277 
.  259 
3 
.  348 
.  303 
.  52 
.  284 
.  3C6 
.  161 
.  26 
.  361 
.  343 
.  294 
.  349 
.  24 
.  66 
.  91 
.  203 
.  74 
.  2 
.  189 
.  101 
.  360 
.  74 
.  251 
.  234 
.  212 

.  321 
.  291 
.  16 
.  390 
.  256 
.  257 
.  263 


xvi    ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX. 


Eel  that  Stopped  a  Train,  The, 

Effeminate  Youth,    . 

Eider  Ducks  in  Iceland,   . 

El  Dorado,        .... 

Electricity  in  Taming  Beasts, 

Elevation  of  a  Noble  Soul, 

Elisha's  Humility  and  Ambition, 

Ely  Cathedral,  The  Story  of,  . 

Empty  Schoolhouses, 

Enduring  to  the  End, 

Enlarged  Self-Appraisement,  . 

Enoch's  Habit, 

Enriching  Others  while  Enriching  Ourselves, 

Entangled  in  Ambition,  . 

Entering  into  Life  Maimed, 

Enthusiasm,     .... 

Envy 

Erroneous  Teaching, 

Esquimaux,  Peculiarity  of  the, 

Even-Handed  Justice, 

Evidence  of  the  Countenance, 

Evidence,  Unseen,   . 

Evil  Communications  Corrupt  Good  Manners, 

Evil,  Protection  Against, 

Exaltation  by  Humility, 

Example,  Power  of. 

Except  We  Come  as  a  Little  Child, 

Exchanging  Love  for  Fame,     . 

Exile,  Love's  Willingness  to  Share, 

Expansion  of  the  Soul,     . 

Expecting  to  Hear, 

Expediency  versus  Principle,   . 

Expensive  Door-Handles, 

Express  Company  in  a  Church,  An, 

Eyes  to  the  Blind,    .... 


ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX.     XVll 


Face  toward  the  Light, 

Faced  Arctic  Cold,  . 

Facing  His  Record, 

Facing  Shipwreck,  . 

Failing  Fight.  A,     . 

Faith  by  Works, 

Faithfulness  of  Christ, 

Fame,  Exchanging  Love  for. 

Family,  One,   . 

Family  Religion, 

Family  Treasures  in  a  Junk -Shop, 

Fathers'  Congress,  "Why  Not  a? 

Fascinations  of  Sin, 

Fatal  Blunder  in  the  Churches, 

Father's  Love,  A,     . 

Fellowship 

Fellowship,  Strength  in  Christian, 

Fellowship,  A  Touch  of  Human, 

Fellowship  in  the  Christian  Church 

Fields  are  White  to  Harvest, 

Fight,  A  Singie-Handed, 

Fighting  against  Rescue, 

Finding  Perfect  Peace,     . 

Fire  in  a  Coal-Mine, 

Fire  in  the  Dismal  Swamp, 

Fire  on  the  City  of  Rome, 

Fired  of  Hell,  . 

Fired  with  Evil, 

Fires  of  Sin, 

Fisher's  Art,  The, 

Fishing  for  Men, 

Flags, 

Fleeing  toward  Disaster, 

Flight  of  Time.  The, 

Flight,  Our  Heavenly, 

Flower  of  Gratitude,  The, 


PAQE 

.  23 
,  199 
.  130 
.  79 
.  69 
.  31 
.  380 
.  308 
,  157 
.  275 
.  409 
.  98 

9 
.  159 
.  72 
.  190 
,  301 
.  335 

6 
.  315 
.  178 
.  336 
.  155 
.  85 
.  194 
.  58 
.  294 
.  836 
.  92 
.  245 
.  157 
.  270 
.  65 
.  220 
.  193 
.  201 


XVIU    ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX. 


Flowers  Beautiful  but  Deadly, 

Flying  into  the  Face  of  Danger, 

Foe,  The  Worst, 

Foes  of  the  Republic,  How  to  Treat 

Fog,  Danger  of  the, 

Food  for  the  Mind,  . 

Fools  of  Strong  Drink, 

For  the  Good  of  Others. 

For  Love's  Sake, 

Force,  Idolatry  of. 

Foreign  Missionary  Substitutes, 

Forgetfulness,  Self-, 

Forgetting  One's  Native  Tongue, 

Form  Some  New  Purpose, 

Formal  Religion,  A, 

Fortress,  The  Church  a. 

Fortune,  The  Tide  that  Sweeps  to, 

Fountain  that  Never  Freezes,  A, 

Foxes,  The  Little,    . 

Fragments, 

Fraudulent  Naturalization, 

Free  Institutions,  American, 

Free  Spirit,  The  Power  of  a, 

Freedom  of  the  Soul, 

Fresh  Gold, 

Fresh  Water  on  the  Surface, 

Friend  in  Need  is  a  Friend  Indeed, 

Friends  for  the  Future,    . 

Friends,  Jonathan  the  Prince  of. 

Friendship,  True,  Gives  the  Best, 

Fruits  of  the  Spirit,  The, 

Frozen  Hydrants,     . 

Fumes  from  the  Pit, 

Future,  Laying  By  for  the. 

Future,  Making  Friends  for  the, 


the, 


ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX.     XIX 


Gathering  Spiritual  Gold, 

Gathering  up  Small  Gold, 

Gathering  up  the  Fragments, 

Gave  an  Arm  to  the  Tiger, 

Generosity,  A  Rich  Man's, 

Gentleness,  Strength  and. 

Get  the  News  to  the  People,     . 

Getting  an  Injunction  against  Christ, 

Giant  Birds  of  Prey, 

Give  and  Take  of  Life,  The,    . 

Give  the  Songsters  the  Right  of  Way, 

Give  Us  Men 

Give  Your  Heart  Room,  . 

Giving  Account  of  Our  Talents, 

Giving  Our  Best  to  Christ, 

Giving  the  Best,       .... 

Glad  Immortality  of  the  Good,  The, 

Gladstone's  Courage, 

Glory  of  a  Righteous  Old  Age,  The, 

Gnawing  Worm  of  Ingratitude,  The, 

God  Faithful- Now,  . 

God  is  the  Impregnable  Fortress, 

God,  Communion  with, 

God  Seeing  the  Heart, 

God.  The  Sons  of,    . 

God,  Working  Together  with, 

God's  Engineering, 

God's  Factory, 

God's  Gentleness,     . 

God's  Jewel-Box, 

God's  Love, 

God's  Power,  Man's  Weakness  and, 

God's  Provision  for  His  Creatures, 

God's  Rich  Provision  for  Us, 

Going  to  Battle  Well-Armed,  . 

Going  Down  in  Sight  of  Port, 


PAoa 

278 

1 

40 
191 
379 
285 
370 
211 
261 
276 
304 

38 

32 
348 
263 
117 

68 
227 

56 
201 
233 
160 
155 
379 
108 
159 
202 

25 

285 

1 

169 

63 
112 
379 
178 

62 


XX      ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX. 


Going  with  Idle  Hands,   . 

Golden  Rule  in  Business,  The, 

Gold-God,  Kissing  the,     . 

Gold.  The  Grave  of. 

Gold  Hoarded  in  India,    . 

Gold-mine,  A  Deserted,   , 

Gold-mine,  The  Greatest, 

Gold  in  a  Queer  Place,     . 

Gold,  Small,  Gathering  up  the, 

Go  to  Sea  in  a  Stanch  Boat, 

Go  or  Send, 

Good  in  a  Beautiful  Way, 

Good  Character  is  a  Refuge, 

Good  Deeds,  A  Chain  of, 

Good  Deeds,  Making  Our,  Attractive, 

Good,  Glad  Immortality  of  the, 

Good  Little  Wife,     . 

Good  Neighbors, 

Good  News, 

Good  News  of  Freedom,  The, 

Good  Shepherd.  The, 

Good  Tidings,  Shout  the. 

Good  Tidings  of  Deliverance, 

Gophers  in  Oklahoma, 

Gorge,  On  the  Edge  of  the, 

Gospel  in  Us,  The,   . 

Gospel  Tramp,  The, 

Governing  One's  Self, 

Grace  to  Endure, 

Gratitude  and  Love, 

Gratitude,  The  Flower  of. 

Grave  of  Gold,  The. 

Great  Cathedrals  of  the  World, 

Great  Christian  Temple, 

Great  Discovery,  A, 

Great  Friendships,  . 


ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX.     XXI 


Great  Magnet,  The, 

Great  Passion,  The  Power  of  a, 

Great  Successes  Mean  Hard  Work, 

Greatest  Gold-Mine  of  All,  The, 

Greatest  Jewel  of  All,  The, 

Greatness,  The  Humility  of,     . 

Greed,  The  Despoiling  Hand  of, 

Greed,  Overreaching, 

Greek  Statue  of  Opportunity, 

Green  Sash  of  Helpfulness, 

Groveling  Soul,  A, 

Growing  Sweeter  with  Age,     . 

Growing  Temple,  A, 

Growth  of  Kindness  among  Men,  The, 

Growth  is  Painful 

Growth,  The  Conditions  of  Spiritual, 

Habit  of  a  Lifetime, 

Habit,  The  Power  of. 

Habits  of  Certain  Animals, 

Habits,  One  of  Daniel's, 

Habits,  One  of  David's, 

Hallowing  of  Common  Duties,  The, 

Handicapped  by  Variances, 

Happiness,  The  Seeds  of, 

Happy  Heart,  Healing  Power  of  a, 

Harbor,  Coming  into  the. 

Harbor,  Lost  at  the  Mouth  of  the,    . 

Hard  Work,  Great  Successes  Mean, 

Hardships  in  this  World, 

Harmony  or  Discord  of  the  Soul,     . 

He  that  Winneth  Souls  is  Wise, 

Healing  Power  of  a  Happy  Heart,  The, 

Healing  Qualities  of  Music,  The,     . 

Hearing  Ears,  .... 

Heart-Broken,  .... 


PAGE 

.  316 
.  199 
.  53 
.  305 
.  155 
.  131 
.  300 
,  145 
5 
.  228 
.  110 
.  154 
.  260 
,  88 
.  289 
.  265 

,  250 
.  302 
.  188 
.  252 
.  249 
.  251 
.  167 
.  131 
.  268 
.  144 
,  108 
,  53 
.  108 
.  86 
.  325 
.  268 
.  114 
.  291 
.  163 


XXU    ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX. 


Heart  Full  of  Tramps,  A, 

Heart,  The  Wail  of  the,  . 

Heart,  Warmth  at  the. 

Hearts  Always  Open  to  the  Sight  of  God 

Hearts  on  Fire, 

Heart's  Depths,  The, 

Heaven,  A  Message  from. 

Heavenly  Alchemist,  The, 

Heavenly  Flights,  Our,   . 

Heaven's  Lost  Diamonds, 

Heir  to  a  Noble  Title, 

Heirs  to  a  Fortune  yet  Paupers, 

Held  for  a  Ransom  by  Brigands, 

Helen  Keller's  Imprisoned  Soul, 

Help  that  Comes  too  Late, 

Help  from  the  King, 

Help  Near,  but  Lost, 

Helpful  Lives, 

Helpfulness,  The  Green  Sash  of. 

Helping  to  Make  the  World  Clean, 

Hereditary  Crime,    . 

Hermit's  Sorrow,  The,     . 

Heroes  in  the  Stoke-Hole, 

Heroes,  Unknown,  . 

Heroic  Citizenship  Needed  in  City 

Heroic  Young  Printer,  A, 

Heroism  in  Common  Life, 

Heroism  and  Faithfulness  of  Christ 

Heroism,  Opportunities  for,     . 

Hidden  Treasure,  Rescuing,    . 

Hidden  Treasure,  Search  for,   . 

Hidden  Treasures,    ... 

Hiding  a  Multitude  of  Sins, 

His  Kindly  Smile,     . 

Hold  Fast  that  Thou  Hast, 

Hold  Fast  to  Thy  Crown, 


Streets 


The 


ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX.     XXlll 


Holiness,  The  Beauty  of, 
Home  Atmosphere, 

Home  Life, 

Home  Missionary  Opportunities, 
Home  Nest,  Dangers  to  the, 
Home  of  Rest  for  Horses, 
Honesty  its  Own  Collector, 
Honey  of  Prosperity,  The, 
Hope,  Easter,  Responsibility  for  the, 

Hospitality, 

Hospitality  of  Heaven,  The,    . 

Hospitality  of  the  Poor,  The, 

House  of  Character  for  the  Soul, 

How  to  Build  a  Strong  Character,   . 

How  the  Chinook  Wind  Comes, 

How  to  Deal  with  the  Thorn, 

How  Far  Can  I  Go  in  the  Wrong  Way? 

How  to  Keep  Clean, 

How  Pearls  are  Made, 

How  to  Treat  the  Foes  of  the  Republic, 

Human  Drift^^ood, 

Human  Fellowship,  A  Touch  of, 

Human  Ladder,  A,. 

Human  Sympathy, 

Humanity's  Need  Should  be  Our  Master 

Humility  of  Greatness,  The,    . 

Hungry  Soldiers,      .... 

Hunting  for  Nuggets, 

Hydrant  of  the  Waters  of  Life, 

I  Live  for  Those  Who  Love  Me, 
I  Love  You  All,        .... 
I  Must  Go  where  My  Friends  Are,   . 
Icebergs  Instead  of  Islands, 
Ice  Rings  on  Trees  and  Hearts,  The, 
Idleness,  Insane  from. 


PAGK 

350 

,  217 

340 

234 

125 

342 

84 

49 

256 

271 

265 

272 

,  29 

197 

406 

19 

,  378 

,  82 

8 

28 

.  22 

335 

.  102 

135 

39 

,  131 

234 

,  181 

.  415 

.  182 
,  162 

190 
78 

416 
,  48 


XXIV    ALPHABETICAL  AND   TOPICAL  INDEX. 


Idolatry  of  Force,     . 

If  Jesus  Christ  Were  to  Come, 

Illuminated  by  Christ's  Presence, 

Illumination  of  a  Tree's  Trunk,  The, 

Immortality,     .... 

Immortality,  The  Instinct  of,  . 

Imperial  Soul,  The, 

Importance  of  Little  Things,  The, 

In  a  Junk-Shop, 

In  a  Lace-Shop  in  Brussels, 

Ingelow,  Jean,  Story  of,  . 

In  Our  Place 

In  Reach  of  the  Life-Line,  but  Lost 

In  Sight  of  Home,    . 

In  the  Surf  at  Rockaway  Beach, 

In  the  Clutches  of  the  Tempter, 

In  the  Toils,    .... 

Individuality, 

Indorsing  Christ  by  Our  Lives, 

Infatuated  vpith  Evil, 

Influence  of  Sinful  Teachings, 

Ingratitude,  The  Gnawing  Worm  of. 

Inheritance,  Pride  in  Our, 

Inheritance,  Rejecting  Our,     . 

Injunction  against  Christ, 

Inner  Desire  Dictates  Destiny, 

Insane  from  Idleness, 

Insight,  Spiritual,    . 

Inspiration  of  Easter  Time,  The, 

Inspiring  Others. 

Instinct  of  Immortality,  The, 

Into  Life's  Harbor, 

Intoxicated  and  a  Criminal, 

Inverted  Tree,  The, 

Invest  in  the  Best,    . 

Is  the  Pilot  on  Board? 


ALPHABETICAL  AND   TOPICAL  INDEX.     XXV 


Is  Your  Signal  Reliable? 

Jean  Ingelow,  Story  of,    . 

Jesus,  The  Optimism  of, 

Jesus,  The  Thirst  of, 

Jewel  Box  of  God's  Word.  The, 

Jewel  Fields,    .... 

Jewel,  The  Greatest, 

Joe  Mandivil,   .... 

Jonathan,  the  Prince  of  Friends, 

Joy  Cometh  in  the  Morning,    . 

Joy,  Conquest  of,  over  Sorrow, 

Joyous  Side,  Its, 

Judge  between  Right  and  Wrong, 

Justice  in  the  Labor  World,     . 

Justice,  Even-handed, 

Keen  Perception  of  Childhood,  The, 

Keep  the  Roof  Good, 

Keep  Your  Basket  Open, 

Keep  Your  Heart  Innocent, 

Keeping  in  Trine,     .... 

Kentucky  Hermit,  A,       . 

Kew  Gardens,  The, 

Killed  by  an  Avalanche  on  Mont  Blanc, 

Killing  the  She-Wolf,      . 

Kindly  Feeling  toward  Our  Brothers  and 

Kindly  Protection,   . 

Kindness, 

Kindness,  The  Growth  of.  Among  Men, 

Kindness  and  Justice  in  the  Labor  World 

Kindness,  Sensitive  to,      . 

King  and  the  Children,  The, 

King,  Help  from  the. 

King,  Serving  the,  . 

Kinship  of  Man,  The, 

Kissing  the  Gold-God, 


Sisters 


PAOE 

.  385 

.  16 
.  134 
.  99 
1 
.  315 
.  156 
.  335 
.  240 
.  330 
.  330 
.  116 
.  223 
.  416 
.  126 

.  356 

.  359 

.  383 

.  322 

.  86 

.  201 

.  207 

.  53 

.  28 

.  231 

.  21 

.  88 

.  88 

.  416 

.  43 

.  253 

.  176 

.  186 

.  281 

.  71 


XIVI    ALPHABETICAL  AND   TOPICAL  INDEX. 


Kleptomaniac  or  a  Thief,  A,    . 

Klondike  Nuggets,  .... 
Klondike,  Sailing  for  the. 
Knights  of  the  Garter,  The,     . 
Knights  of  the  Sorrowful  Figure,  The, 
Known  by  His  Limp, 

Labor  World,  Justice  in  the,   . 

Lack  of  Patience,  The,     . 

Lack  of  Simplicity  in  Prayer,  The, 

Lacking  the  Water  of  Life, 

Language  of  Heaven,  Familiar  with  the. 

Ladder,  Human,  A,  .         .         . 

Large  Pretensions 

Law  Written  on  the  Heart,  The, 

Laying  by  for  the  Future, 

"Lead,  Kindly  Light,"     . 

Led  Captive  by  the  Devil, 

Lesson  for  the  Christian  Church, 

Lest  We  Forget,       .... 

Let  the  Furnace  Be  Lighted,    . 

Let  No  Man  Take  Thy  Crown, 

Let  Nothing  be  Lost, 

Let  Us  Have  Peace, 

Letter  from  the  Prisoner  at  Sing  Sing, 

Letting  Christ  Play  on  Our  Hearts, 

Letting  the  Worms  Breed, 

Liberty,  Devotion  to, 

Life 

Life  of  the  Bible,     . 

Life,  Coining  Better  Ideas  of, 

Life  Currents, 

Life  Marred  by  Evil  Temper,  A, 

Life  Out  of  Death,   . 

Life,  The  Loom  of. 

Life  Plant,  The, 


ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX.     XX^al 


Life,  The  Spirit  of,  .... 

Life,  Spiritual,  Need  of,  .  . 

Life,  tlie  Water  of,  .... 

Life-Line,  in  Reach  of — but  Lost,    . 

Life-Line,  Seizing  the 

Light,  Nesting  in  the 

Light  is  the  Best  Policeman,    . 

Light  and  Shadow,  .... 

Light  that  Warms,  The, 

Light  in  the  Window,  The, 

Light  of  the  World,  The, 

Light,  The  Value  of,        ...         . 

Like  the  Silly  Ox, 

Limping  Through  Life,   .... 
Lincoln  (President),  Letter  to, 

Lions,  A  Child  Among 

Liquor  License,  Protected  by  a. 

Liquor  Seller,  Rents  His  Building  to  a,    . 

Liquor  Traffic, 

Little  Brief  Applause,  A,        .         .         . 
Little  Child  Shall  Lead  Them,  A,    . 
Little  Church  on  Madison  Avenue,  The, 

Little  Foxes,  The 

Little  Girl's  Heroism,  A,         .         .         . 
Little  Men  Require  Much  Room, 

Little  Sins, 

Little  Things, 

Little  Time  to  Meditate, 

Live  Wire,  The, 

Live  Without  Worry,       .... 
Lived  Through  the  Typhoon, 
Living  by  the  Spirit  Rather  than  the  Letter, 
Living  Fountain,  The,     .... 
Living  in  Poverty  with  Wealth  Lying  Idle, 
Living  in  the  Spirit,         .... 
Lone  Wolf's  Appeal,        .... 


PAOE 

.  393 
.  389 
.  148 
.  103 
.  48 
.  1S6 
.  293 
.  22 
.  396 
.  138 
.  327 
.  293 
.  161 
.  404 
.  117 
.  323 
.  104 
.  232 
.  261 
.  19 
.  89 
.  164 
.  49 
.  413 
.  392 
.  259 
12,  215 
.  372 
.  140 
.  294 
.  143 
.  41 
.  34 
.  395 
.  41 
.  119 


XXVin    ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX. 


Look  Out  for  the  Reading, 

Looking  Beneath  the  Surface, 

Looking  Out  for  Old  Age, 

Loom  of  Life,  The, 

Losing  by  Dishonesty, 

Losing  the  Great  to  Save  the  Little, 

Losing  Individuality, 

Losing  Joy, 

Losing  a  Limb  to  Save  a  Life, 

Losing  Spiritual  Treasures  Through  Worldli 

Lost  a  Cistern  but  Gained  a  River, 

Lost  Crown,  A,        .        .         . 

Lost  with  Help  Near,       .      •  . 

Lost  at  the  Mouth  of  the  Harbor, 

Lost  by  Saving, 

Love,  A  Father's,    . 

Love.  God's,    .... 

Love  Melts  Icebergs, 

Love  as  Life's  Snow, 

Love  of  the  Lowly,  The, 

Love,  A  Mother's,    . 

Love  for  a  Son, 

Love,  The  Union  of  Gratitude  and, 

Love's  Willingness  to  Share  Exile, 

Lowly,  Love  of  the, 

Lurking  Sin,  The 


Magnet,  The  Great, 

Magnetism  of  a  Great  Personality,  The, 

Make  for  the  Open  Sea,    . 

Make  Politics  Clean, 

Making  Friends  for  the  Future, 

Making  the  Most  of  One's  Opportunity, 

Making  One's  Powers  Count, 

Making  Our  Good  Deeds  Attractive, 

Making  Ready  for  Service, 


ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX,     xxix 


PAGE 

Man  Entering  on  His  Dominion, 

.  343 

Man  On  Fire,  A,      ....         . 

.  113 

Man  or  Minister — Which?        .... 

.  116 

Man  is  Strong  Only  as  He  Allies  Himself  with 

God's 

Power, 

.     53 

Man,  The  Kinship  of 

.  231 

]\lan's  Last  Chance,  A 

.     48 

Man's  Weakness  and  God's  Power, 

.     53 

Manhood  Greater  than  Wealth, 

.  205 

Manhood,  The  Loss  of 

.  351 

Marble  Blocks,  Molding,          .... 

.  246 

March  of  Duty.  The, 

6 

Mark  Twain's  Letter, 

.     59 

Marshes  of  Sin, 

.     24 

Memory  of  Better  Days,  A,      .        .         .        . 

.     22 

Men,  Fishing  for,    ...... 

.  157 

Men  Needed,  The, 

.     38 

Mendelssohn  at  Freiburg  Cathedral, 

.  169 

Merits,  Standing  on  One's,       .... 

.  331 

Message  from  Heaven,  A 

.  280 

Message  of  a  Prince,         .        .         .         . 

.  378 

Microbe-Proof  House, 

.  165 

Millionaire  on  the  Gallows,       .... 

.  386 

Millionaire  Tramp,  The, 

.  186 

Miners  Who  Fell  by  the  Wayside,   .        .         .        . 

.  203 

Miracles, 

.     44 

Miraculous  Flower, 

.  326 

Missing  Human  Ships,     ..... 

.     82 

Missionary  Opportunities,  Home,    . 

.  234 

Missionary  Substitutes,  Foreign 

.  224 

Modern  Civilization,  Cooperation  in. 

.  331 

Modern  Life, 

.  819 

Molding  Marble  Blocks, 

.  246 

Moltke,  Von,  Story  of 

.  127 

Mont  Blanc  Yields  Its  Dead 

.     53 

Moonshiners.  Encounter  with 

.  318 

XXX     ALPHABETICAL  AND   TOPICAL  INDEX. 


Moral  Beauty,  .... 

Moral  Climate,  .... 

Moral  Derelict,  A 

Morbid  Spiritual  Disorders,     . 

More  Abundant  Life, 

Morphine  Habit,  The, 

Mother's  Love,  A,    . 

Much  Room  Required  for  Little  Men, 

Mud-Flats,  On  the. 

Murder  and  Suicide  in  the  Drink,   . 

Music,  The  Healing  Qualities  of,     . 

Musical  Heart,  .... 

Must  Face  His  Record,     . 

My  Lamb  is  Missing, 

Names  Written  in  Heaven, 
Naomi's  Unselfishness,     . 
Napoleon  and  the  Violets, 
National  Capitol,  Leaks  in  the. 
Native  Tongue,  Forgetting  One's, 
Native  Worship  in  Yezo  Island, 
Natural  Beehive  in  Mendocino,  California 
Natures  Transformed, 
Near  to  the  Gate  of  Death, 

Nearer  to  Heaven 

Need  of  an  Up-to-Date  Church, 

Need  of  Spiritual  Life,     . 

Nelson  (Lord) ,  Romance  of,     . 

Nesting  in  the  Light, 

Never-To-Be-Forgotten,  . 

New  Testament  Feast,     . 

Newspaper,  Atmosphere  of  the  Sunday, 

Night  Songs 

Nightingales  at  Cranbrook,  The, 

No  One  Criticized 

No  Quack  Way 


ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX,     xxxi 


PAGE 

No  Stinginess  in  God's  Universe, 341 

Nobility  of  Service, 

.  239 

Northern  Light  on  the  Yukon  River, 

.  396 

Not  to  the  Swift  but  the  Patient,     . 

.  818 

Now  or  Never,          .... 

.     70 

Nuggets,  Hunting  for,     . 

.   181 

Obedience  Better  than  Sacrifice, 

.  189 

Obstacles,  Tunneling  Through, 

.     37 

Old  Age, 

.  391 

Old  Age,  The  Glory  of  a  Righteous, 

.     56 

Old  Croakers, 

.  358 

On  Foot  and  on  Wheel,    . 

.     15 

One  of  Daniel's  Habits,  . 

.  252 

One  of  David's  Habits,     - 

.  249 

One  Family,     ..... 

.  157 

One  Fatal  Sand-Grain, 

.  243 

Only  the  Stumps,    .... 

.  279 

Open  Ears, 

.     16 

Open  Sea,  Make  for  the. 

.  311 

Opportunities,,         .... 

.       5 

Opportunities  for  Heroism, 

.  364 

Opportunities,  Home  Missionary,    . 

.  234 

Opportunities,  Passing,   . 

.  372 

Opportunity, 

.  403 

Opportunity,  Making  the  Most  of  One's, 

.  262 

Optimism  of  Jesus,          .... 

.   134 

Optimist,  The  Christian, 

.     25 

Orloff  Diamond,  Origin  of  the. 

.  156 

Others,  Consideration  for. 

.  354 

Others,  For  the  Good  of, 

.   109 

Others,  Inspiring,    .... 

.  236 

Others,  Shielding  of,        .         .         . 

.     21 

Our  Best,  Giving,  to  Christ,    . 

.  263 

Our  Earthly  House, 

.  257 

Our  Heavenly  Flight, 

.  193 

xxxii    ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX. 


Our  Inheritance, 

Our  Natures,  Transforming,    . 

Our  Needs 

Our  Sisters  in  the  Sweat-Shop, 
Outgrowing  One's  Shell, 

Palsied  Through  Fear  or  Sin, 

Papa's  Coming  Home, 

Parent's  Mistake,  The,     . 

Parents,  Doing  Honor  to,  by  a  Nob 

Passing  Opportunities,     . 

Passion  for  Saving  People,  A, 

Passion,  The  Power  of  a  Great, 

Path  of  the  Simoom,  The, 

Patience,  .        .        .        • 

Patient  Christ,  The, 

Paul  as  a  Friend, 

Paul  on  the  Witness-Stand, 

Paul's  Courage, 

Paul's  Prayer  at  Conversion,    . 

Paul's  Thorn, 

Pauper  in  the  Midst  of  Plent3%  A, 

Peace, 

Peace  in  the  Face  of  the  Enemy, 

Pearls  as  Playthings, 

Pearls,  How  Made, 

People,  The  Common, 

People  Who  Know  Us  Best,  The, 

Pepper  and  Patience, 

Perils  of  a  Drifting  Soul, 

Perils,  Secure  Amidst, 

Perishing  with  Help  at  Hand, 

Perseverance 

Perseverance  Rewarded, 
Personal  Contact,  Salvation  by, 
Personal  Responsibility,  . 


e  Life, 


ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX,     xxxiil 


Personality,  Magnetism  of  a  Great, 

Petty  Spirit,  A, 

Photograpliy,  Spiritual,   , 

Picking  Off  Stragglers,   . 

Pirates  of  a  Savage  Spirit, 

Plate  Glass, 

Playing  with  Pearls, 

Plunder  of  Sin, 

Plymouth  Church  and  the  Soldiers, 

Poisoned  Bite,  Beware  of  the, 

Policeman's  Heroism,  A, 

Poor,  Hospitality  of  the,  . 

Poor  Man's  Christ,  The, 

Poverty,  Living  in,  with  Wealth  Lying  Idle, 

Power,  Man's  "Weakness  and  God's, 

Power,  Healing,  of  a  Happy  Heart,  The, 

Power,  Storing  Up,         .... 

Practical  Christianity.      .... 

Prayer,  Lack  of  Simplicity  in, 

Prayer  Produces  Song 

Prayer,  Self-Composure  in,      . 

Praying  to  God, 

Prepared  Place  for  a  Prepared  People,  A, 

Presumptuous  Sins,  .... 

Preventing  the  Loss  of  Heat  from  the  Body, 

Pride  in  Our  Inheritance, 

Pride  and  Unbelief,  .... 

Prince  of  "Wales  and  the  Burglars,    . 

Principle,  Expediency  "Versus, 

Printing  on  the  Skies, 

Prisoners  of  Old  Age, 

Prodigal's  Father,  The, 

Profitable  Sabbath,  A, 

Progress, 

Progress,  Agitation  the  Price  of. 

Promises,  Standing  on  the. 


PAGE 

.  138 
,  391 
,  199 
301 
306 
313 
291 

84 
269 
211 
411 
272 

82 
395 

53 
268 
134 

37 

83 

17 
242 
252 
328 
171 
174 

14 
319 
176 
222 

30 
278 

73 
182 

81 

81 
175 


Xtxiv    ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX. 


Prophecies, 

Protection  Against  Evil, 
Prove  Yourself  by  Being  a  Great  Servant, 
Provide  for  Body  and  Soul, 
Public  Mind,  Fouling  of  the, 
Public  Spirit  to  Do  Ordinary  Duty, 
Public  Spirit,  A  Demand  for, 
Pug-Dog's  Testimony  in  Court,  A, 
Pulling  People  Out  of  Danger, 

Pure  Silver, 

Purity,  Best  Way  to  Keep, 
Put  Your  Talents  Out  to  Service,    . 
Put  the  Best  Face  on  Troubles, 
Putting  Off  Till  To-morrow,    . 

Quagmire  of  Sin,  The,     . 

Quality  More  Important  than  Quantity, 

Queen  Elizabeth's  Ring, 

Queen  Victoria  and  Women  Citizens, 

Queen  Victoria's  Choice, 

Queen  Victoria's  Family  Life, 

Quenching  the  Fire  of  Evil,     . 

Questionable  Transactions, 

Race,  The  Christian's, 
Reaching  the  Summit  by  Way  of  the  Valley, 
Readiness,         .        ,         .         .         . 
Ready  for  Service,   .... 
Ready  to  Throw  a  Rope  of  Salvation, 
Real  Appreciation,  .... 
Reckless,  Fate  of  the. 
Reckless  Hands  Pull  Levers,    . 
Reckless  Mountain  Climbers.   . 

Reckless  Teachers 

Recklessness,  Beware  of. 
Rectitude, 


ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX.     XXXV 


Reflected  Tenderness  of  Jesus,  The, 
Refuge  for  the  Soul,  A,  . 
Refuse  the  Devil's  Temptation, 
Refused  to  Accept  a  Pardon.    . 
Rejecting  Our  Inheritance, 
Rejoicing  in  Christ,  .... 

Rejoicing  in  the  Lord,      .... 
Relation  of  Clean  Hands  to  Spiritual  Power, 
Reliance  upon  Christ,       .... 

Religion  for  Use, 

Religion,  Formal,  A,       .         .         .        . 

Remaining  Behind,  .... 

Renewing  Our  Youth,      .... 

Repentance  that  Comes  Too  Late,    . 

Replacing  Bridge  in  Less  than  Three  Minutes, 

Republic,  How  to  Treat  the  Foes  of  the, 

Rescue,  Fighting  Against, 

Rescued  from  Sin's  Bondage, 

Resist  the  Devil, 

Responsibility  for  the  Easter  Hope, 

Responsibility  of  Fatherhood,  The, 

Responsibility,  Personal, 

Restitution, 

Restoration  of  a  Soul, 

Reunion  on  Ellis  Island,  A, 

Rich  Man's  Generosity,  A, 

Riches  Forfeited  Through  Disobedience, 

Riches,  Spiritual,  The  "Waste  of,     . 

Riding  to  Death,      .... 

Righteous  Old  Age,  The  Glory  of  a, 

Ring  of  Love,  The, 

Risen  Christ  the  Life  of  the  Bible,  The, 

Rising  One,  The 

Risks  in  the  Interest  of  Science, 
Robbed  of  His  Ordinary  Sense, 
Rock,  Building  on  the,  . 


The, 


PAGE 

,  342 

189 

234 

351 

327 

44 

25 

76 

66 

198 

209 

75 

278 

106 

202 

28 

336 

210 

337 

256 

98 

141 

290 

322 

89 

379 

396 

381 

64 

56 

206 

258 

390 

355 

239 

147 


XXXVl    ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX. 


Roiled  up  Like  a  Shallow  Spring, 
Romance  in  the  Blue  Grass  Region, 
Royal  Assistance,     . 
Royalists  in  France, 
Run  to  the  Rescue, 
Running  into  Danger  for  Another's 
Running  from  Salvation, 
Running  on  the  Treetops, 


Safety 


Sabbaths  of  Jesus,    . 

Sabbath,  Leaks  in  the, 

Sacrifice,  Obedience  Better  than. 

Sacrifice,  Saved  by, 

Sacrificing  the  Less  for  the  Greater, 

Sacrificing  Principles, 

Sacrificing  the  Spiritual  to  the  Animal, 

Safe  Sanctuary,  .... 

Salvation  as  a  Basket, 

Salvation  by  Personal  Contact, 

Salvation,  Running  from, 

Savagery  of  Gossip,  .... 

Saved  by  a  Dog's  Intelligence, 

Saved  Others  but  Could  Not  Save  Herself 

Saved  by  Sacrifice,    . 

Saving  the  Drift-Gold, 

Saving  by  Giving,     , 

Saving  by  Losing,     . 

Saving  Low-Grade  Ore, 

Saving  People  in  Spite  of  Themselves, 

Saving  Pov^er  of  a  Good  Character, 

Scorcher  on  Foot  and  Awheel,  The, 

Scotch  Stewardess,  A, 

Sea  of  Forgetfulness, 

Search  for  Hidden  Treasure, 

Secure  Amidst  Perils, 

Seed  of  the  Better  Hope,  The, 


ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX.     xxx\ai 

PAQB 

Seeds  Dormant, 349 

Seeds  of  Happiness, 131 

Seeking  Saviour,  The 318 

Seizing  the  Life-Line 48 

Seizing  Every  Opportunity, 375 

Self  that  Leads  to  Sin, 276 

Self -Appraisement,  Enlarged, 122 

Self-Mado  Bonds 57 

Self- Composure  in  Prayer, 242 

Self-Deception, 328 

Self-Forgetfulness 334 

Self-Mastery 80 

Selfishness,  The  Fate  of, 299 

Selfishness,  Shut  in  by, 32 

Sensible  Boy,  A, 205 

Sermon,  The  Tramp's, 218 

Serving  the  King, 186 

Serfs  of  Sin, 200 

Service  for  Christ, 277 

Service,  Making  Ready  for,      .        .        .        .        .        .10 

Service,  The- Nobility  of, 239 

Service,  Value  of  Skill  in, 11 

Setting  the  Matter  Right 150 

Shadow,  Light  and, 22 

Share  with  Your  Friend, 223 

Sharks,  Torn  by  the 101 

Shaw  (Colonel),  Memorial  to, 26 

Sheet- Anchor,  The 20 

Shielding  Others, 21 

Ship  in  a  Fog, 85 

Shipwreck,  Facing, 79 

Show  and  Display 189 

Show,  Just  for, 198 

Show  Mercy  with  Cheerfulness, 87 

Show  Your  Faith  by  Your  Works, 31 

Showing  Our  Colors, 174 


XXXvni    ALPHABETICAL  AND   TOPICAL  INDEX. 


Shun  the  Polished  Sins,    . 

Shutting  Our  Eyes  to  a  Brother's  Signal  of  Distress 

Signals 

Signals  of  Distress,  . 

Signal -Lights,  Destroying  the, 

Sigsbee's  Officers,     . 

Simoom,  Path  of  the, 

Simplicity  in  Prayer,  Lack  of, 

Sin,  The  Debts  of,     . 

Sin  of  Presumption, 

Sin,  The  Serfs  of,      . 

Sin  is  Always  Skulking,  . 

Sin,  Tampering  with, 

Sin,  The  Awful  Waste  of, 

Sinai  in  Modern  Life, 

Single  Sin,  A,   . 

Single  Sins,  The  Tragedy  of, 

Sins,  Little,  Do  Not  Dally  with. 

Sins,  Polished,  Shun  the. 

Sins,  Presumptuous, 

Sins,  Single,  The  Tragedy  of, 

Sin's  Afterclap, 

Sin's  Bondage,  Rescued  from. 

Sin's  Bitter  Dregs, 

Sin's  Slavery,  The  Blindness  of. 

Sing  the  Song  God  Bids  Thee, 

Sinkholes  of  Sin, 

Sinner's  Broken  "Weapons,  The, 

Sisters,  Our,  in  the  Sweat-shops, 

Skeletons  Beside  the  Trail, 

Skill  in  Service, 

Skill,  Value  of, 

Skulking  Character  of  Sin, 

Slain  by  Dwarfs, 

Slavery,  The  Blindness  of  Sin's, 

Sleeping  Watchman,  A,    . 


ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX.     XXXIX 


PAGE 

Sleuthhound,  The  Devil's 61 

Small  Gold  Gathered  Up, 

1 

Small  Growers  of  Flowers, 

.  231 

Smallpox  Rock, 

.  321 

Smell,  Keen  Sense  of, 

.   119 

Smile.  The  Power  of  a,    . 

,  267 

Smothered  to  Death, 

.  279 

Smothered  in  Diamonds,  . 

.     18 

Snow-Blocked  Switch, 

.  405 

Soil  Fitted  for  the  Seed,  . 

.     47 

Soldier,  Christian,  The,    . 

.  216 

Soldiers,  Citizen, 

.  862 

Soldiers,  Hungry,     . 

.  234 

Soldiers  in  Plymouth  Church,  The, 

.  269 

Soldier's  March,  The  Christian, 

.       6 

Some  Other  "Way 

.  282 

Song  Flows  Out  of  Prayer, 

.     17 

Songs  in  the  Night, 

.  307 

Sons  of  God, 

.  108 

Sorrow  from  Disloyal  Children, 

.  364 

Sorrow,  Conqtiest  of  Joy  Over, 

.  330 

Sorrow,  Despair  of.  Without  Christ, 

.     97 

Sorrowful  Figure,  Knights  of  the,  . 

.     23 

Sorrows  of  the  Heartbroken,     . 

.   163 

Soul,  The  Chime-room  of  the, 

.  269 

Soul,  the  Imperial,  .... 

.   124 

Soul  Melody,    . 

.  269 

Soul  On  Fire,    . 

.     85 

Soul,  A  Refuge  for  the,    . 

.   189 

Soul,  A  Starved, 

.  283 

Soul,  The  Transparent,     . 

.  313 

Soul's  El  Dorado,  The,     . 

.  158 

Soul -Pearls,      .... 

8 

Soul-saving,  Earnestness  Needed  in. 

.  321 

Sparrow's  Nest  in  an  Arc-Light, 

.   166 

Spent  in  the  Saloon, 

,        , 

.     75 

rl        ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX. 

PAQB 

Spirit,  The  Power  of  a  Free 139 

Spirit  of  Life 393 

Spirit,  Living  by  the,  Rather  than  the  Letter,         .         .    41 

Spiritual  Gold,  Gathering, 278 

Spiritual  Growth,  The  Conditions  of 265 

Spiritual  Insight 160 

Spiritual  Life,  Need  of 389 

Spiritual  Miner,  The, 56 

Spiritual  Nuggets 181 

Spiritual  Paupers, 105 

Spiritual  Photography, 199 

Spiritual  Power,  The  Relation  of  Clean  Hands  to,  .     76 

Spiritual  Riches,  Waste  of, 381 

Spiritual  Treasure,  Losing,  Through  Worldliness,   .         .  151 

Spiritually  Bankrupt, 64 

Spiritually  Dead 389 

Spontaneous  Combustion  in  a  Tunnel 294 

Standard  of  Value  in  Heaven, 253 

Standing  in  Our  Place, 329 

Standing  on  One's  Merits 331 

Standing  on  the  Promises, 175 

Standing  on  the  Right  Side, 333 

Starting  the  Church  Furnace, 179 

Starvation,  Died  from, 283 

Starved  Soul.  A, 283 

Steerage  Passengers  Returning  to  Europe,       .        .        .  173 

Sting  of  the  Sweet 49 

Stones  from  Many  Quarries 262 

Stony  Natures, 317 

Stopped  a  Train 413 

Storage  Batteries, 134 

Storing  Up  Power, 134 

Story  of  a  Bell,  .        - 219 

Stranded  on  the  Mud-Flats 412 

Stranded  Ship  and  the  Pirates, 306 

Strength  in  Christian  Fellowship, 301 


ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX.       xli 

PAOE 

Strength  and  Gentleness 285 

Strength  in  Union, 33 

Stroking  a  Wild  Cat, 339 

Strong  Drink  and  Evil  Companions,         ....  161 

Strong  Drink  and  Its  Fools, 2 

Strong  Drink,  Men  Bitten  with, 211 

Subtle  Power  of  Character, 128 

Substitutes,  Foreign  Missionary, 224 

Success  Means  Hard  Work 52 

Sudden  Slides  into  Iniquity 310 

Suicide,  Murder  and,  in  the  Drink 74 

Sultan's  Champion  Wrestler,  The 197 

Summer  to  Winter,  The  Duty  of. 119 

Summit,  Reaching  the,  by  Way  of  the  Valley,        .         .  238 

Sunday  Newspapers, 76 

Sunday- School  Teachers, 273 

Sure  Anchorage, 43 

Swallowed  up  in  the  Maelstrom  of  Drink,         .        .        .  218 

Sweat-Shops, 395 

Sweet  Story  of  Friendship 42 

Sweets  of  Home  Life 340 

Swept  by  the  Gale, 196 

Switch  Would  Not  Work,  The, 405 

Swordfish,  The, 166 

Sympathetic'Courtesy, 180 

Sympathy,  Human 135 

Take  Down  the  Scaffolding, 122 

Take  Your  House  with  You, 29 

Taking  Advantage  of  the  Tide, 340 

Taking  Risks  for  Christ's  Sake, 355 

Talents  as  Our  Peculiar  Trust, 348 

Talk  Happiness 236 

Taming  Men 364 

Tampering  with  Sin, 378 

Tasted  Our  Grief. 329 


xlii    ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX. 


Tattooed  Character,  .                         .        . 

.     88 

Temper,  A  Life  Marred  by  Evil, 

.  239 

Tempter,  in  the  Clutches  of  the, 

.  297 

Tenderness  of  Christ, 

.  235 

Tenderness,  Reflected,  of  Jesus, 

.  342 

Test  of  Life,  Usefulness  the,    .... 

.  839 

Testimony  to  the  Worth  of  Christianity. 

.     51 

Testimony,  The  Power  of,        ...         . 

.  250 

Thieves  in  Priest's  Robes,        .... 

.     51 

Things  that  Can  Not  Fail,          .... 

.     43 

Thirst  of  Jesus,  The 

.     99 

"  Thirstland,  "  The  Tragedy  of ,         .        .         . 

.  153 

Thorn,  How  to  Deal  with  the, 

.     19 

Thorn,  Paul's 

.     45 

Throwing  Away  Old  Errors,     .... 

.  227 

Thy  Kingdom  Come, 

.  109 

Tide  that  Sweeps  to  Fortune,  The,  . 

.  340 

Time,  The  Flight  of 

.  220 

'Tis  Life,  Not  Death.  We  Celebrate. 

.     69 

Too  Late,    .        . 

106,  401 

Tomb,  Darkness  of  the,  without  the  Christ-hope, 

.     67 

Torn  by  the  Sharks 

.  101 

Traces  of  the  Divine  Image,      .... 

.  348 

Track,  Keep  Away  from  the 

.  377 

Tragedy  of  Single  Sins 

.  243 

Tragedy  of  the  River  Bronx,     .... 

.     71 

Tragedy  of  Thirstland 

.  153 

Traitors  Aboard  the  Ship.         .... 

.  404 

Traits  of  Christ.  Show  Forth  the, 

.  282 

Tramp,  The  Gospel, 

.  274 

Tramp  Spirit,  The, 

.  186 

Tramp's  Sermon,  The, 

.  218 

Tramps.  A  Heart  Full  of 

.     84 

Transformed  Life,  A, 

.  268 

Transforming  Our  Natures 

.  398 

Transparent  Soul,  The, 

.  313 

ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX,     xliii 


Transplanted  Lives,   . 

Treacherous  Enemy  on  Board, 

Treacherous  Footing, 

Treasure,  Bringing  Our,  into  Service, 

Treasure,  Rescuing  Hidden,     . 

Treasure,  Search  for  Hidden,   . 

Treasures  Buried  in  the  Cellar, 

Treasures,  Family,  in  a  Junk-Shop 

Treasures,  Hidden, 

Trees  or  Stumps,  Which? 

True  in  Commonplace  Days, 

True  Courtesy,  .... 

True  Friendship  Gives  the  Best, 

True  of  Good  Habits, 

True  Ring.  The, 

Truest  Manhood, 

Trust  Not  the  Enemy's  Music, 

Try  Again,         .... 

Tunneling  Through  Obstacles, 

Turn  Defeat  into  Victory, 

Turn  Your  Rake  Over, 

Two  Can  Chase  Ten  Thousand, 

Unctuous  Rectitude, 

Understanding,  With  the, 

Union  of  Gratitude  and  Love,  The, 

Union,  Strength  in. 

Unity  of  the  Church, 

Unknown  Heroes, 

Unread  Prophecies, 

Unreason  of  Envy, 

Unreliable  Signals, 

Unseen  Evidence, 

Unselfishness,     . 

Unused  Wealth, 

Unusual  Position  of  Ears  in  Insects, 


PAQE 

.  183 
.  404 
.  55 
.  288 
.  325 
.  221 
.  399 
.  409 
.  57 
.  279 
.  57 
.  347 
.  223 
.  302 
.  272 
.  246 
,  140 
.  66 
,  37 
,  219 
,  273 
33 

94 

16 

13 

33 

157 

60 

121 

387 

885 

127 

237 

255 

118 


xliv    ALPHABETICAL  AND   TOPICAL  INDEX. 

PAGE 

Upward  March,  "Woman's, 312 

Usefulness  the  Test  of  Life 339 

Useless  Consuls, 394 

Using  Our  Capital  to  Increase  It, 371 

Veins  of  Wealth, 220 

Victims  of  the  Liquor  Traffic, 61 

Victoria  (Queen),  and  Women  Citizens,  .        .         .  224 

Village  of  Demon-Flowers, 244 

Violets  Sent  in  Loving  Memory, 384 

Violins  Become  Mellow  in  Age, 154 

Volcanic  Heart, 92 

Volunteer  Nurse, 39 

Von  Moltke,  Story  of 127 

Wail  of  the  Heart, 217 

Wanted  to  Shake  Hands 185 

Warmth  at  the  Heart, 149 

Wasted  Opportunities, 262 

Wasted  Wealth, 64 

Watchful  to  Win  Souls 157 

Watchman  Asleep, 99 

Water  in  the  Desert's  Heart, 45 

Water  of  Life 148 

Weak,  Defending  the, 7 

Weakness,  Man's,  and  God's  Power,        .        .        .        .58 

Wealth  Lying  Idle 395 

Wealth,  Manhood  Greater  than, 205 

Wealth,  Unused 255 

Wealth,  Veins  of 220 

Wealth,  Wasted, 64 

Wealthy  Man  in  an  Almshouse, 255 

Wearing  Diamonds, 324 

Weirs  of  Worldliness, 811 

Wells  of  Hot  Water 149 

Went  Back  into  a  Burning  House, 197 


ALPHABETICAL  AND  TOPICAL  INDEX,      xlv 


"Wet  and  Dry  Seasons  in  Australia, 

What  Did  the  Emperor  Want? 

What  God  Thinks  of  Cowards, 

What  is  Life  Without  Love?     . 

What  Do  the  Wrinkles  Mean  ?  . 

What  We  Live  For,  . 

When  Job  Forgot  His  Own  Troubles, 

When  the  Spirit  of  Love  Masters  Us, 

Where  Jesus  Reigns, 

Where  the  Responsibility  Rests, 

Where  Do  You  Stand  ? 

Where  Are  Your  Treasures? 

Whispering  Gallery,  A,    . 

Who  Goes  Home?      . 

Whose  Servant  Are  You? 

Whosoever  Shall  Lose  His  Life, 

Whosoever  Will, 

Why  Not  a  Fathers'  Congress? 

Wild  Beasts  of  Sin,    . 

Wild  Ride,  A 

Willing  to  Go'into  Exile, 

Winter,  The  Duty  of  Summer  to. 

Wisdom,  The  Divine, 

Wise  in  Restoring  Souls,  . 

With  the  Understanding, 

Without  a  Guide, 

Witnesses,  Fit  to  be. 

Wolf  in  Sheep's  Clothing,  A,  . 

Woman's  Upward  March, 

Women  Citizens,  Queen  Victoria  and. 

Work  Blest  by  Prayer  and  Consecration, 

Work,  Hard,  Great  Successes  Mean, 

Work  a  Sweet  Refuge, 

Working  Together  with  God,   . 

Works,  Show  Your  Faith  by  Your, 

World  Coming  in  Like  a  Flood, 


PAGE 

.  148 
.  187 
.  191 
,  168 
,  17 
,  183 
,  228 
.  869 
.  194 
,  141 
.  333 
,  399 
.  127 

265 
,  277 
.  400 

103 
,  98 
,  287 

320 
,  353 
,  119 

303 
.  322 
,  16 
,  55 
,  250 
,  152 
.  312 
,  224 
.  251 
.  52 
.  48 
.  159 
.  31 
.  108 


JsM  ALPHABETICAL  AND   TOPICAL  INDEX. 

PAOB 

Worldly  Currents, 245 

Worst  Foe  of  All.      ........  203 

Word  of  Command, 378 

World,  Light  of  the 337 

Worldliness,  Christian  Graces  in  the  Midst  of,                 .  345 

Worldliness,  Losing  Spiritual  Treasure  Through,   .         .  151 

Wrecked  in  a  Fog, 280 

Wreckers,          .........  104 

Wrinkles  on  the  Face  of  a  Good  Man 17 

Wrong  Signal,  Giving  the, 115 

X-Rays  and  Christianity, 410 

Young  Printer's  Heroism, 410 

Youth, 324 

Youth  in  Danger 50 

Youth  Must  be  Protected 173 


ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 


GOryS  JEWEL-BOX. 

A  noted  Western  railroad  man  is  an  ardent  admirer 
of  beautiful  gems.  For  a  number  of  years  he  has  been 
steadily  adding  to  the  treasures  of  his  wife's  jewel- 
box,  and  seldom  visits  another  city  than  his  own 
without  carrying  away  one  of  its  greatest  treasures. 
His  especial  fancy  is  for  emeralds,  and  the  finest  col- 
lection of  them  in  America  is  owned  by  his  wife. 
The  wife  is  very  quiet  in  her  taste  and  does  not  share 
her  husband's  love  for  these  beautiful  bits  of  color. 
She  seldom  wears  any  jewels,  but  keeps  them  in  a 
box,  where,  she  says,  it  gives  her  husband  much 
pleasure  to  look  at  them. 

God's  Word  is  like  a  jewel-box,  full  of  precious 
promises  that  are  not  only  beautiful,  but  are  rich  with 
comfort.  In  olden  times  rich  people  stored  up  their 
wealth  in  jewels  because  they  could  be  easily  carried 
and  were  always  salable.  The  promises  of  the  Bible 
are  like  that;  nobody  can  steal  them,  and  they  are 
wealth  that  can  always  be  used. 

GATHEFONG  UP  THE  SMALL  GOLD. 

In  the  United  States  assay  ofl&ce  in  Wall  Street, 
New  York  City,  the  refining  of  metals  containing  gold 


2  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

and  silver  goes  on  year  in  and  year  out,  and  the  dust 
of  the  precious  metals  permeates  every  nook  and 
crevice.  The  fumes  from  the  melting- caldrons  also 
bear  minute  particles  of  value  into  the  flue.  It  is 
usual  for  the  government  to  have  a  general  house- 
cleaning  at  least  once  a  year,  just  prior  to  the  making 
uj)  of  the  annual  statement ;  and  from  the  sweepings 
of  the  roof  and  the  collecting  of  the  soot  several  hun- 
dreds of  dollars  are  saved  each  year.  But  for  many 
years  the  old  smoke-stack  had  stood  without  a  careful 
cleaning,  or  repairing  of  the  fire-bricks  that  lined  its 
interior.  Last  fall  it  was  noticed  that  some  of  the 
bricks  were  worn  out,  and  it  was  decided  to  reline  the 
entire  stack.  The  work  has  just  been  completed,  and 
from  those  old  fire-bricks  have  been  taken  $1,500  in 
gold  and  silver. 

In  the  work  of  saving  souls  we  must  not  despise 
the  small  gold.  We  must  carefully  seek  after  the  lit- 
tle child  and  tenderly  encourage  the  weak  and  the  un- 
fortunate. The  spirit  of  the  Christ,  on  whose  mission 
we  are  sent,  is  to  deal  kindly  by  the  bruised  reed  and 
the  smoking  flax.  The  fine  gold  of  human  hearts  is 
as  dear  to  Him  as  the  big  nuggets. 

THE  FOOLS  OF  STRONG  DRINK. 

An  amusing  but  pathetic  accident  happened  in  New 
York  City,  when  a  man  with  a  wooden  leg  became  so 
drunk  that  when  he  got  home  at  night  he  lay  down 
on  the  floor  and  dropped  into  a  heavy  drunken  slumber. 
He  turned  over  in  his  troubled  stupor,  and  rested  his 


A  BROTHER'S  SIGNAL  OF  DISTRESS.  6 

wooden  leg  against  the  stove,  andit  finally  got  afire. 
When  the  policeman  broke  into  the  house,  after  first 
calling  a  fire-company,  he  found  the  poor  sot  snoring 
away  while  his  wooden  leg  was  burning  brightly. 
What  stupid  fools  drink  makes  of  men!  A  wise  man 
of  old  said  of  the  drunkard :  "  Thou  shalt  be  as  he 
that  lieth  down  in  the  midst  of  the  sea,  or  as  he  that 
lieth  upon  the  top  of  a  mast.  They  have  stricken 
me,  shalt  thou  say,  and  I  was  not  sick;  they  have 
beaten  me,  and  I  felt  it  not:  When  shall  I  awake? 
I  will  seek  it  yet  again."  If  Christians  have  any 
duty,  surely  it  must  be  to  interpose  in  behalf  of  intel- 
ligent manhood,  and  save  it  from  such  waste  and 
folly. 


SHUTTING  OUR  EYES  TO  A  BROTHER'S  SIGNAL 
OF  DISTRESS, 

The  American  schooner  Thomas  M.  JV.  Stone  went 
down  at  sea,  and  Captain  Henry  Newcomb  and  his 
crew  of  six  men  were  picked  up  from  the  life-boat  by 
the  bark  Africa  and  landed  in  New  York  City.  The 
Stone's  crew  had  spent  five  days  in  the  life-boat 
when  the  Africa  hove  in 'sight.  After  they  had  aban- 
doned the  Stone,  a  black-hulled,  single-funneled 
steamer  passed  within  a  mile  and  a  half  of  their 
boat.  The  captain  says  the  vessel's  "  lookout"  had 
evidently  seen  the  signal  of  distress  hoisted  on 
the  boat — an  oar  with  a  blanket  attached — for  the 
steamer  blew  three  blasts  on  her  whistle,  and  then 
deliberately  kept  off  on  her  course.     This  happened 


4  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

at  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  the  weather  was 
clear  at  the  time.  Captain  Newcomb  said  on  arri- 
ving in  port :  "  If  I  knew  the  name  of  that  steamer 
and  her  captain  and  owners,  I  would  publish  them  to 
the  entire  world." 

Of  course  everybody  feels  that  the  captain's  indig- 
nation is  well  grounded.  It  shames  us  to  know  that 
there  are  people  so  selfish  and  mean  as  to  leave  ship- 
wrecked sailors  in  such  peril ;  but,  alas !  that  is  only  a 
type  of  the  selfishness  and  meanness  exhibited  by 
many  Christian  people  and  churches,  who  see  the  flag 
of  distress  flying  from  the  drunkard's  home,  and  in 
the  sorrow  and  anguish  of  his  wife's  face,  and  yet 
pass  along  on  their  own  course,  as  if  there  were  no 
licensed  liquor-saloons  sending  a  hundred  thousand 
drunkards  to  a  wretched  grave  every  year. 

SETTING  A  DEATH-TRAP. 

One  morning  a  workman  clambered  through  a 
fourth-story  window  of  a  building  going  up  on  a  New 
York  street.  The  moment  his  full  weight  fell  on  the 
boards  of  the  high  scaffolding  there  was  a  crashing 
noise ,  one  of  the  heavy  beams  gave  way,  and  the 
workman  was  thrown  into  the  street,  from  whence  he 
rolled  into  the  excavation  for  the  cellar.  Tho  ter- 
ribly injured  he  was  not  killed,  and  the  physicians  say 
he  may  recover.  The  most  awful  thing  about  it  is 
that  the  workmen  suspect  that  some  one  had  tampered 
with  the  scaffolding  and  had  prepared  this  death-trap 
for  victims. 


OPPORTUNITIES.  5 

Horrible  as  such  a  suggestion  is,  it  is  not  more  so 
than  what  certainly  takes  place  every  time  a  liquor- 
saloon  is  licensed  to  open  its  death-trap  under  the 
protection  of  the  police  and  the  laws  of  state  and 
nation.  This  setting  of  death-traps  would  surely  be 
stopped  if  the  Christian  citizens  of  the  country  could 
each  one  feel  his  personal  relation  to  the  awful  busi- 
ness. It  is  not  only  the  saloon-keeper  who  sets  up  a 
death-trap,  and  causes  men  to  fall  from  places  of  trust 
and  profit  into  beggary;  causes  them  to  fall  from 
honorable  and  noble  character  down  to  beastly  degra- 
dation. The  preacher  who  sees  it  all,  week  after 
week,  and  keeps  his  voice  silent  has  a  hand  in  it. 
Listen  to  what  the  Word  of  God  says :  "  If  the  watch- 
man see  the  sword  come  and  blow  not  the  trumpet,  and 
the  people  be  not  warned ;  if  the  sword  come,  and  take 
any  person  from  among  them,  he  is  taken  away  in  his 
iniquity ;  but  his  blood  will  I  require  at  the  watch- 
man's hand."  Every  voter  who  casts  his  ballot  to 
support  a  political  party  or  a  political  candidate  who 
is  committed  to  license  these  death-traps  has  a  hand  in 
it.  God  help  the  Christian  Church  to  wash  its  hands 
clean  of  this  awful  iniquity! 


OPPORTUNITIES. 

There  used  to  be  in  one  of  the  old  Greek  cities  a 
statue  called  "  Opportunity. "  It  was  a  human  figure 
standing  on  tiptoes  to  show  that  it  remained  but  a 
moment.  It  had  wings  on  the  feet  to  suggest  the 
speed  with  which  it  passed  by.     The  hair  was  long 


6  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

on  the  forehead  to  show  that  men  must  seize  an  op- 
portunity when  they  meet  it;  while  the  back  of  the 
head  was  bald  to  indicate  that  when  an  opportunity 
has  once  passed  it  cannot  be  caught. 

CHRISTIAN  FELLOWSHIP. 

In  the  New  York  City  aquarium  there  is  what  is 
called  a  "happy  family."  In  a  wooden  box,  the 
bottom  of  which  is  covered  with  sand,  there  are  a 
number  of  fiddler-crabs  from  local  waters,  a  dozen  or 
more  climbing  crabs  or  land-hermits  from  St.  Kitts, 
and  a  small  diamond-backed  terrapin  from  Georgia. 
Altho  these  little  creatures  live  together  happily,  they 
are  each  fed  on  different  food,  and  their  habits  and 
nature  are  by  no  means  the  same. 

The  distinguishing  characteristic  of  the  Christian 
Church  is  that,  tho  men  and  women  are  gathered 
from  every  kind  of  sinful  past,  they  are  transformed 
in  their  spirit  by  the  grace  of  God,  so  that  they  feed 
upon  the  same  spiritual  food  and  are  one  in  their  love 
for  Christ,  who,  as  Paul  says,  "hath  raised  us  up 
together  and  made  us  sit  together  in  heavenly  places 
in  Christ  Jesus." 

THE  CHRISTIAN  SOLDIER'S  MARCH. 

Mrs.  Margaret  Sangster  sings  a  very  suggestive 
song  of  the  march  of  duty,  which  requires  us  to  go 
forward  with  the  same  fidelity  in  the  afternoon  of 
weariness  as  in  the  morning,  when  the  heart  and  foot 


DEFENDING  THE  WEAK.  7 

are  light.  Duty  is  a  splendid  harness  to  hold  us  to  our 
place.  The  last  lines  of  her  poem  can  not  help  but 
strengthen  us  in  our  purpose : 

"And  this  is  the  task  before  us, 

A  task  we  may  never  shirk  : 
In  the  gay  time  and  the  sorrowful  time 

We  must  march  and  do  our  work  ; 
We  must  march  when  the  music  cheers  us, 

March  when  the  strains  are  dumb  ; 
Plucky  and  valiant,  forward,  march! 

And  smile,  whatever  may  come. 

"For,  whether  life's  hard  or  easy, 
The  strong  man  keeps  the  pace  ; 
For  the  desolate  march  and  the  silent 
The  strong  soul  finds  the  grace." 

DEFENDING  THE  WEAK. 

A  young  lady  went  out  with  a  little  girl  eight  years 
old  for  a  walk  in  the  mountains  in  Pennsylvania. 
Becoming  weary,  she  seated  herself  and  beguiled  the 
time  by  reading.  The  child  was  playing  near.  Sud- 
denly the  woman  was  startled  by  an  agonized  cry, 
and  was  horrified  to  see  an  eagle  trying  to  carry  the 
child  away.  She  went  to  the  rescue.  When  the 
fierce  bird  saw  her  it  left  the  child,  and  with  a  swoop 
came  down  with  terrific  force  on  her  shoulders. 
Then  began  a  desperate  struggle.  The  girl  tried  to 
drive  the  eagle  away.  As  often  as  it  was  beaten  off 
it  would  return  with  a  swoop,  tearing  her  clothes. 
When  almost  exhausted  she  succeeded  in  getting  a 
tight  hold  of  the  eagle's  head.     This  proved  her  sal- 


8  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

vation,  for  the  eagle,  in  its  struggle  to  get  free,  broke 
its  neck.  Covered  with  blood,  she  led  the  child, 
which  was  but  little  hurt,  and  dragged  the  eagle  a 
mile  to  her  home. 

If  we  are  to  share  the  sufferings  of  our  Savior,  we 
must  stand  ready  to  defend  the  weak  and  the  tempted 
from  the  fierce  birds  of  prey  that  swoop  down  upon 
them  in  this  wicked  world.  Every  day  we  come  in 
contact  with  those  who  are  being  torn  and  wounded 
by  the  cruel  talons  of  sin.  To  go  to  their  rescue, 
and  bare  our  shoulders  to  their  danger,  and  conquer 
their  enemies  in  Christ's  strength,  is  our  blessed 
privilege. 

If  we  share  with  Christ  in  suffering,  we  shall  also 
share  with  Him  in  victory. 

HOW  PEARLS  ARE  MADE« 

The  finding  of  pearls  in  some  parts  of  New  York 
State,  as  well  as  in  many  Southern  lakes  and  streams, 
has  brought  to  notice  again  the  strange  way  in  which 
pearls  are  made.  A  grain  of  sand  is  sucked  in  by 
these  fresh-water  clams  with  their  food.  Every  nine 
months  the  clam  throws  off  a  milky  secretion,  which 
forms  a  new  coating  of  mother-of-pearl  inside  the 
shell — white,  blue,  or  pink.  A  coating  of  this  sub- 
stance forms  around  the  intruding  grain  of  sand, 
which  must  be  a  constant  annoyance  to  the  clam,  and 
thus  in  course  of  time  the  pearl  is  formed.  So  soul- 
pearls  are  made  by  patience  under  trying  circum- 
stances. 


BLOOD  WILL  TELL.  9 

CONVINCED   OF    SIN,  YET  FASCINATED    BY    IT. 

Prof.  Charles  Kice,  the  botanist,  once  had  a  most 
thrilling  experience  with  a  monster  rattlesnake.  He 
was  on  a  botanical  expedition  with  a  fellow  scientist, 
and  was  sleeping  in  an  open  tent.  He  was  aroused 
from  his  slumbers,  one  morning,  to  find  to  his  horror 
a  large  rattlesnake  coiled  on  his  chest  with  its  head 
raised  to  strike  at  the  least  movement.  While  he 
realized  his  awful  danger,  the  ej^es  of  the  snake 
seemed  to  fascinate  him,  and  left  him  powerless  to 
think  or  act  in  any  way  to  save  himself.  The  strain 
was  so  great  that  he  mercifully  swooned  away,  and 
his  companion  on  awakening  discovered  the  snake  and 
destroyed  it. 

There  are  many  times  when  people  are  conscious  of 
their  sins,  and  yet  are  so  fascinated  by  their  evil 
habits  that  they  seem  powerless  to  break  away  from 
them,  or  crush  them  out  of  existence ;  but  if  we  will 
breathe  a  prayer  to  Christ  we  shall  never  lack  His 
help  in  delivering  us  from  the  deadly  danger  of  our 
sins. 

BLOOD  WILL  TELL. 

A  Mr.  Perry,  who  was  with  Lieutenant  Peary,  the 
great  discoverer,  on  his  Arctic  trip,  snared  a  beauti- 
ful blue  fox  in  Greenland,  and  decided  to  make  a  pet 
of  it.  On  returning  to  this  coimtry,  Mr.  Perry  took 
the  fox  to  his  home  at  Phillipston,  Mass.,  and  in- 
stalled it  in  a  roomy  cage.  The  fox  ate  well,  and 
was  keeping  in  good  condition,  and  her  owner  was 


10  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

hopeful  of  ultimately  gaining  a  place  in  her  affections. 
But  one  night  she  broke  out  of  the  cage,  went  to  a 
neighbor's  and  killed,  a  number  of  valuable  fowls,  and 
was  shot  by  one  of  the  farm-hands.  Beautiful  as  the 
blue  fox  was,  she  had  the  true  fox  blood,  and  it  led 
her  to  death. 

One  may  be  a  blue-blooded  sinner,  or  a  fashionable 
sinner,  but  such  sins  are  just  as  truly  sins  as  the  most 
common  and  vulgar  witnessed  in  the  street.  They 
are  just  as  dangerous  too.  Anywhere  and  every- 
where, "the  wages  of  sin  is  death." 

MAKING  READY  FOR  SERVICE. 

One  of  the  greatest  servants  of  mankind  is  the  loco- 
motive engine,  and  it  requires  the  greatest  care.  The 
engineer  comes  down  to  his  post  of  duty  nearly  an 
hour  before  his  engine  is  to  go  out  on  the  road.  But 
all  night  long  in  the  engine  stable,  called  the  round- 
house, a  man  has  been  rubbing  down  the  great  iron 
horse  until  every  rod  and  cylinder  shine  like  a  mirror. 
Fire  has  been  kept  going,  so  that  all  night  there  has 
been  a  little  steam  in  the  boxes.  When  the  fireman 
comes  he  goes  over  the  big  steam  horse  and  sees  that 
everything  is  all  right.  Then  when  the  engineea- 
comes  he  examines  everything  just  as  carefully  as  if 
there  had  not  been  a  wiper  and  a  fireman  there  before 
him.  All  the  bearings  are  oiled,  and  when  everything 
is  ready  the  engine  is  run  out  of  the  roundhouse  for 
a  little  trial  trip.  Then,  for  fear  something  might 
have  been  overlooked,  after  the  engine  stands  hitched 


THE  VALUE  OF  SKILL  IN  SERVICE.  11 

to  the  train  an  expert  mechanic  comes  along  and 
strikes  a  sharp  blow  on  every  wheel  to  make  sure 
that  the  wheel  and  axle  are  sound. 

That  is  only  a  suggestion  of  how  careful  we  ought 
to  be  to  keep  our  bodies  and  minds  and  hearts  in  such  a 
perfect  condition  for  service  that  none  who  trust  sa- 
cred interests  in  our  hands  need  fear  a  wreck.  Many 
people  cause  wreckage  who  mean  to  be  all  right,  but 
who  have  gone  to  their  service  in  an  unfit  condition. 
We  can  not  afford  to  be  careless  where  there  is  so  much 
at  stake. 

THE  VALUE  OF  SKILL  IN  SERVICE. 

A  very  remarkable  illustration  of  the  value  of  great 
skill  in  one's  business  in  an  emergency,  was  shown  on 
Lake  Erie,  when  Capt.  Frank  Koot,  of  the  steamer 
Mariposa,  rescued  the  two  survivors  of  the  ill-fated 
Idaho,  who' were  clinging  to  a  spar.  There  did  not 
appear  to  be  one  chance  in  a  hundred  for  saving  the 
men  in  the  awful  sea  that  swept  about  them.  The 
risk  of  losing  his  own  boat  in  the  seemingly  hopeless 
effort  was  great.  Two  fruitless  attempts  made  final 
success  an  improbability ;  a  third  time  he  swept  close 
to  the  spar  on  which  the  nearly  dead  men  were  cling- 
ing. Suddenly  he  reversed  the  engines  at  full  speed, 
and  in  the  instant  when  the  3Ia7'iposa  stood  quivering 
with  the  shock  of  arrested  motion,  her  sailors  snatched 
the  men  from  the  spar,  and  they  were  saved.  It  was 
was  an  exhibition  of  masterly  seamanship,  nice  calcu- 
lation, cool  judgment,  and  daring  courage  scarcely, 
if  ever,  surpassed.     Captain  Root  never  could  have 


12  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

saved  those  lives  if  he  had  been  content  to  be  only 
an  average  seaman.  Only  a  first-class  captain  could 
have  done  it.  So  there  will  be  many  opportunities 
that  will  come  within  our  reach  to  serve  our  fellow 
men  in  which  we  will  fail  unless  we  are  doing  our 
best,  and  have  the  skill  which  comes  from  high  en- 
deavor and  persevering  effort. 

DESPISE  NOT  THE  LITTLE  THINGS. 

A  plainly  dressed  woman  was  noticed  to  be  picking 
up  something  in  the  street — a  poor  slum  street,  where 
ragged,  barefooted  little  children  were  accustomed  to 
play.  The  policeman  on  the  beat  noticed  the  wo- 
man's action,  and  watched  her  very  suspiciously. 
Several  times  he  saw  her  stoop  and  pick  up  some- 
thing and  hide  it  in  her  apron.  Finally  he  went  up 
to  her,  and  with  a  gruff  voice  and  threatening  manner 
demanded :  "  What  are  you  carrying  off  in  your 
apron?"  The  timid  woman  did  not  answer  at  first, 
whereupon  the  policeman,  thinking  she  must  have 
found  something  valuable,  threatened  her  with  arrest 
if  she  did  not  show  him  what  she  had  in  her  apron. 
The  woman  opened  her  apron  and  revealed  a  hand- 
ful of  broken  glass.  "What  do  you  want  with  that 
stuff?"  asked  the  policeman.  The  woman  replied: 
"  I  just  thought  I'd  like  to  take  it  out  of  the  way  of 
the  children's  feet."  Dear  soul,  she  was  doing  what 
she  could.  How  much  sweeter  the  world  would  be  if 
each  of  us  would  be  careful  to  save  the  bare  feet  of 
the  young  and  the  weak ! 


THE  UNION  OF  GRATITUDE  AND  LOVE.         13 

A  MOTHER'S  LOVE. 

A  touching  illustration  was  given  in  New  York  City 
of  the  supreme  power  of  aif  ection  in  a  mother's  heart. 
An  unfortunate  woman  who  had  become  mentally  un- 
balanced, so  that  she  absented  herself  from  her  home 
and  her  friends,  was  lured  to  the  hospital  by  sending 
her  a  telegram  that  her  child  was  dangerously  sick  in 
one  of  the  city  hospitals.  She  immediately  went  to 
see  her  child  and  was  taken  into  custody,  and  placed 
in  the  insane  ward.  Her  poor  brain  was  so  bewildered 
that  she  could  not  act  intelligently  on  ordinary  infor- 
mation, but  her  mother-love  was  stronger  than  her 
disease,  and  for  the  moment  stilled  her  feverish  un- 
rest. How  strong  is  that  promise  of  God's  Word 
which  declares  that  tho  a  mother  may  forget  her 
child,  the  Heavenly  Father  will  never  forget  those 
who  trust  i6  Him! 

THE  UNION  OF  GRATITUDE  AND  LOVE, 

An  amusing  as  well  as  a  suggestive  incident  oc- 
curred in  New  York  City.  A  gentleman  was  standing 
in  the  lobby  of  the  Equitable  Building,  when  he  hap- 
pened to  notice  a  scrap  of  paper  on  the  floor.  He 
picked  it  up,  and  gasped  for  breath.  It  was  a  certifi- 
cate of  deposit  for  over  $18,000.  "  Some  one  must 
be  out  of  his  head  with  anxiety,"  thought  the  gentle- 
man, and  he  took  a  great  deal  of  pains  to  tell  all  his 
friends,  so  that  the  news  might  get  to  the  owner  as 
quickly  as  possible.     Sure  enough,  by  and  by  there 


14  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

came  to  his  office  a  little  man,  in  a  hurry.  The  gen- 
tleman who  had  found  the  certificate  handed  over  the 
paper  with  a  smile,  expecting  some  expression  of 
thanksgiving.  Instead,  to  his  astonishment,  he  was 
met  with  the  rebuke,  "Why  didn't  you  take  this  to 
the  bank?  You  have  caused  me  a  great  deal  of 
trouble."  After  all,  that  is  the  way  a  great  many 
people  treat  the  Lord.  They  receive  all  the  bounties 
of  life  in  that  spirit.  It  is  only  as  we  come  to  un- 
derstand God's  personal  love  for  us  that  gratitude 
springs  from  our  hearts  and  speaks  from  our  lips  in 
return. 


PRIDE  IN  OUR  INHERITANCE. 

There  has  been  quite  widespread  discussion  of  late, 
in  the  public  press,  concerning  a  proposal  to  purchase 
as  a  public  reservation  Thomas  Jefferson's  famous 
home  in  Monticello.  The  scheme  was  thwarted  at 
the  very  start  by  the  refusal  of  its  owner,  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son M.  Levy,  a  descendant  of  the  great  commoner,  to 
part  with  it.  He  said,  when  asked  about  the  matter, 
that  it  was  a  matter  of  personal  and  family  pride  with 
him  that  Monticello  be  kept  up,  and  that  no  sum  of 
money  could  possibly  compensate  him  for  the  loss  of 
the  estate.  Some  years  ago  "William  M.  Evarts,  then 
Secretary  of  State,  urged  Mr.  Levy  to  allow  him  to 
ask  Congress  to  purchase  Monticello.  His  answer 
was :  "  Mr.  Secretary,  if  you  offered  me  all  the  Qioney 
this  room  [the  Secretary  of  State's  private  office  in 
the    State  Department]  would   hold,  you   could   not 


THE  SCORCHER.  15 

tempt  me."     Mr.  Evarts  replied:  "Well,  Mr.  Levy, 
I  admire  you,  and  do  not  blame  you." 

There  is  no  more  striking  figure  under  which  the 
New  Testament  seeks  to  arouse  our  love  and  gratitude 
and  righteous  pride  than  St.  Paul's  declaration  that 
the  Christian  is  an  heir  of  God  and  a  joint-heir  with 
Jesus  Christ.  We  ought  to  be  proud  of  our  inheri- 
tance. If  a  descendant  of  Thomas  Jefferson  is  to  be 
admired  for  sacrificing  many  personal  luxuries  in  order 
that -he  may  keep  up  the  family  inheritance,  how 
much  more  admirable  is  he  who  endures  hardship 
with  gladness,  that  he  may  keep  the  Christian  name 
in  honor  before  all  the  world ! 

THE  SCORCHER  ON  FOOT  AND  ON  WHEEL. 

The  "  scorcher, "  as  he  is  commonly  understood  in 
bicycle  parlance,  is  a  rider  who  is  determined  to  have 
his  own  way  and  his  own  good  time  on  the  road, 
tho  he  endanger  the  happiness,  and  even  life  and 
limb,  of  hundreds  of  other  riders.  He  is  certainly  a 
nuisance,  and  a  despicable  character.  Alas!  there 
are  scorchers  in  other  departments  of  life  than  bicycle 
riding.  The  scorcher  in  business  or  social  or  religious 
circles  is  just  as  mean  and  dangerous  a  character  as 
when  going  at  breakneck  speed  down  the  cycle-path 
on  his  wheel.  The  scorcher  is  such  because  of  his 
selfishness.  It  is  the  work  of  Christianity  to  elimi- 
nate the  scorcher  and  bring  in  the  "  brother"  in  his 
place.  The  proverb  of  the  scorcher  is,  "  Every  man 
for  himself,  and  the  devil  take  the  hindmost."     The 


16  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

law  of  the  brother  is,  "  Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens, 
and  so  fulfil  the  law  of  Christ. " 


OPEN  EARS. 

An  amusing  story  is  told  concerning  the  late  Jean 
Ingelow,  the  poet.  She  was  once  stayin-j  with  some 
friends  in  the  country,  when  she  remarked  in  conver- 
sation that  altho  she  had  often  written  of  nightingales, 
she  had  never  heard  one  sing.  So,  one  night,  the 
whole  company  went  out  in  the  moonlight  especially 
to  hear  them,  and  when  for  many  minutes  the  night- 
ingales had  been  singing  most  beautifully,  they  were 
startled  by  Miss  Ingelow's  asking:  "Are  they  sing- 
ing? I  don't  hear  anything!"  It  was  then  found 
that  the  poetess  had  a  great  dread  of  drafts,  and  be- 
fore going  out  in  the  night  air  had  filled  her  ears 
with  cotton-wool.  So  many  people  fail  to  hear  the 
call  of  God  to  comfort  the  discouraged  or  carry  the 
Gospel  to  the  neglected  because  their  ears  are  not 
open. 

COMMON  SENSE. 

There  is  a  remarkable  illustration  of  the  emphasis 
which  Paul  placed  on  the  value  of  common  sense,  in  the 
fourteenth  chapter  of  his  first  letter  to  the  Corinthians. 
He  determines  that  he  will  both  pray  and  sing,  not 
only  with  the  spirit,  but  with  the  understanding  also. 
There  is  something  exceedingly  strong  in  his  decla- 
ration that  he  would  rather  speak  five  words  with 
his  understanding,  in  a  way  which  would  teach  others, 


WHAT  DO  THE  WRINKLES  MEAN?  17 

than  ten  thousand  words  which  his  audience  would  not 
understand.  All  modern  preachers  and  leaders  of 
Christian  Endeavor  and  Epworth  League  meetings 
might  well  choose  him  for  their  model  in  that  respect. 


PRAYER  PRODUCES  SONG. 

There  is  a  beautiful  suggestion  of  the  way  prayer 
soothes  our  fears,  comforts  our  hearts,  cheers  the 
soul,  and  awakens  music  and  song,  in  Luke's  descrip- 
tion, given  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  of  the  experience  of  Paul  and  Silas  in 
the  dungeon  at  Philippi.  Tho  they  were  wounded 
and  bruised  and  hungry,  and  uncomfortable  with 
their  chains,  they  prayed  to  God  in  the  midnight, 
and  afterward  their  hearts  were  so  full  of  joy  that 
they  could  not  help  but  sing.  And  it  is  well  to  note 
what  they  sang.  It  was  not  "  Hark,  from  the  tombs 
a  doleful  sound!"  but  the  other  note  altogether, 
"Praise  God,  from  whom  all  blessings  flow."  Song 
flows  out  of  prayer  as  naturally  as  a  spring  gushes 
out  of  a  mountain -side  full  of  treasures  of  the  melted 
snow. 

WHAT  DO  THE  WRINKLES  MEAN? 

I  often  wonder  when  I  look  in  the  faces  of  a  large 
congregation  of  men  and  women,  and  see  the  furrows 
and  wrinkles  on  the  brows  of  the  people  before  me, 
what  has  wrought  these  scars  on  the  various  faces. 
Sometimes  I  can  see,  plainly  enough,  that  the  man  is 
a  money-getter,  and  has  worshiped  day  and  night, 
2 


18  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

through  many  years,  before  the  altar  of  Mammon.  I 
know  that  man  got  his  scars  in  the  service  of  gold. 
On  another  face  there  are  certain  indications  of  the 
worship  of  fashion ;  and  the  scars,  however  it  may  be 
sought  to  cover  them  up,  are  unmistakably  there.  On 
other  faces  there  are  the  lines  of  dissipation  that  tell 
of  the  gross  worship  of  lust  and  appetite.  But  I  see 
other  wrinkles  that  warm  my  heart.  They  seem  to 
me  like  the  scars  I  saw  on  a  sugar-maple  in  New 
Hampshire.  It  was  an  old  tree,  and  every  year  for  a 
hundred  years  somebody  had  been  tapping  it  for  the 
sweet  sap  in  the  springtime,  and  it  had  been  giving 
its  sugar  to  sweeten  the  world.  The  old  tree's  scars 
seemed  beautiful  to  me,  and  I  said  to  myself:  "  They 
are  like  the  wrinkles  on  the  face  of  a  good  man,  or  a 
noble  woman ;  they  are  signs  of  age  and  burden-bear- 
ing, and  are  the  scars  that  show  where  they  have  been 
tapped  for  sweetness." 

SMOTHERED  IN  DIAMONDS. 

A  tragic  report  comes  from  the  diamond-fields  of 
South  Africa,  stating  that  several  Europeans  and  a 
large  number  of  native  miners  were  entombed  in  the 
De  Beers  pit  at  Kimberley.  How  mocking  must  have 
been  the  presence  of  the  rich  gems  about  them  in  the 
hour  of  death !  Alas !  such  accidents  do  not  belong 
to  South  Africa  only,  nor  to  the  diamond -pit  alone; 
men  may  be  smothered  to  death  in  a  spiritual  way  in 
the  stock-exchange  just  as  surely.  Let  every  man 
seek  to  use  his  money,  and  see  to  it  that  it  does  not 
become  his  god  and  use  him. 


A  LITTLE  BRIEF  APPLAUSE.  ID 

HOW  TO  DEAL  WITH  THE  THORN. 

Paul  had  a  great  many  successes;  his  splendid 
genius  gave  him  great  power  over  men  everywhere. 
HeatVen  cities  were  turned  upside  down  at  his  com- 
ing. The  most  learned  and  influential  men  waited  on 
his  eloquence  with  admiration.  Kings  and  governors 
trembled  at  his  passionate  appeals.  His  devotion, 
too,  was  rewarded  with  marvelous  visions  of  spiritual 
beauty,  and  Paul  says  that,  lest  he  should  become 
puffed  up  by  all  these  triumphs,  there  was  given  unto 
him  "a  thorn  in  the  flesh."  There  have  been  many 
curious  ideas  with  regard  to  what  that  thorn  was. 
Some  commentators  have  thought  it  was  a  scolding 
wife,  though  the  more  common  opinion  is  that  Paul 
was  a  bachelor.  A  late  writer  of  great  note  thinks  it 
was  a  malarial  fever;  it  is  a  case  in  which  one  man's 
guess  is  as'  good  as  another,  but  the  way  Paul  dealt 
with  it  is  the  interesting  point.  He  earnestly  besought 
God,  again  and  again,  that  he  might  get  rid  of  it. 
This  is  the  answer  that  he  received  from  heaven: 
"  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee :  for  my  strength  is 
made  perfect  in  weakness."  "Most  gladly,  there- 
fore, "  said  Paul,  "  will  I  rather  glory  in  my  infirmi- 
ties, that  the  power  of  Christ  may  rest  upon  me." 

A  LITTLE  BRIEF  APPLAUSE. 

It  is  wonderful  how  some  people  worship  the  ap- 
plause of  others.  The  newspapers  have  said  a  great 
deal  about  a  reporter  who  has  been  trying  to  swim 


20  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

the  English  Channel.  The  description  of  his  suffer- 
ings, and  his  endurance,  and  his  persistency,  until  he 
lost  his  reason  and  became  blind  before  he  would 
relinquish  his  determination  to  finish  what  he  had 
undertaken,  would  arouse  one's  admiration  were  the 
deed  undertaken  for  a  great  cause ;  but  when  no  pos- 
sible good  end  could  be  served  by  it,  and  no  result 
could  come  to  him  save  a  little  brief  applause  of  his 
fellow  men,  the  incident  only  serves  to  illustrate  how 
the  love  of  notoriety  and  applause  may  come  to  be  an 
idol  which  we  worship. 

THE  SHEET-ANCHOR. 

The  body  of  a  suicide,  whose  story  is  infinitely  pa- 
thetic, was  taken  out  of  North  Kiver  at  New  York. 
The  dead  man  was  a  lithographic  artist,  musician, 
and  linguist.  He  was  born  in  Friesland  fifty-seven 
years  ago.  After  he  had  been  graduated  from  a  Ger- 
man university  he  went  to  Puerto  Kico,  in  the  West 
Indies,  to  seek  wealth.  Fortune  smiled  on  him,  and 
he  sent  home  glowing  accounts  ot  the  great  lithograph- 
ing business  he  was  conducting.  At  the  height  of  his 
prosperity  he  loved  a  beautiful  woman  and  married 
her,  and  while  his  wife  lived  he  was  happy ;  but  eight 
years  ago  she  died.  With  her  death  his  power  to 
work  and  plan  seemed  to  cease.  From  that  moment 
fortune  seemed  to  desert  him.  He  lost  his  zest  in  his 
work  and  finally  failed  in  business.  Two  years  ago 
he  came  to  New  York  and  was  advised  by  a  friend  to 
teach  languages.     He  spoke  German   and   English, 


SHIELDING  OTHERS.  21 

French,  Spanish,  and  Italian,  with  great  fluency,  but 
he  lacked  that  appetite  for  life  and  nerve  of  purpose 
that  make  men  succeed.  Finally,  without  money  and 
without  heart,  he  filled  his  pockets  full  of  stones  and 
leaped  overboard  into  the  North  Eiver.  The  thing  he 
lacked  above  everything  else  was  the  great  sheet- 
anchor  of  faith  and  hope  in  Christ.  His  heart  was 
anchored  in  his  love  for  his  wife,  and  when  that  cable 
parted  he  drifted.  If  his  soul  had  been  buoyed  and 
held  steady  by  a  sublime  faith  in  Christ  and  the  im- 
mortal life,  he  could  have  gone  on,  with  a  chastened 
heart,  but  with  a  serene  and  dauntless  spirit. 

SHIELDING  OTHERS. 

There  is  a  new  scheme  for  training  horses  to  pace  or 
trot.  A  pair  of  horses  are  driven  in  front  of  the  pacer, 
with  a  big  -shield,  like  a  sail  to  a  yacht,  erected  on  a 
frame  at  the  back  of  the  driver.  The  team  in  front 
is  driven  at  full  run,  so  as  to  keep  out  of  the  way  of 
the  trotter  or  pacer  that  comes  on  behind.  This  sail 
drawn  by  the  first  team  shields  the  horse  that  is  fol- 
lowing from  the  resistance  of  the  atmosphere,  and  it 
is  able  to  make  much  better  speed.  When  I  read  that 
I  said  to  myself :  "  That's  what  my  father  and  mother 
used  to  do  for  me  when  I  was  a  child,  and  I  know 
plenty  of  people  who  go  with  all  sail  set  on  the  jour- 
ney of  life,  but  who  are  careful  to  make  their  success 
a  shield  to  some  one  who  is  weaker  and  not  able  to 
keep  up  without  this  kindly  protection."  Paul  says 
that  the  strong  must  bear  the  burdens  of  the  weak, 


22  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

and  so  fulfil  the  law  of  Christ.  It  is  that  element  of 
Christianity  which  makes  the  strong  man's  arm  a 
shield  to  protect  the  weaker  brother,  which  alone  can 
take  the  brutality  out  of  the  competitions  of  life. 

LIGHT  AND  SHADOW. 

Brussels  is  the  city  of  lace-shops.  I  was  very  much 
interested,  a  few  years  since,  to  be  told  by  a  lace-mer- 
chant in  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  these  shops  that 
the  most  splendid  patterns  of  lace  are  spun  in  a  dark- 
ened room,  the  only  light  being  admitted  through  a 
very  small  window,  where  it  falls  directly  on  the  pat- 
tern. So  our  human  lives  can  only  be  worked  out 
in  the  loveliest  figures  by  the  aid  of  shadows,  and 
every  wise  soul  should  sing  out  of  a  full  heart : 

"  I  thank  Thee  more  that  all  my  joy 
Is  touched  with  pain  ; 
That  shadows  fall  on  brightest  hours, 

That  thorns  remain  ; 
So  that  earth's  bliss  may  be  my  guide, 
And  not  my  chain.  " 

A  MEMORY  OF  BETTER  DAYS. 

In  a  small  town  in  New  York  State  two  little 
girls,  aged  five  and  ten  years  respectively,  being  alone 
in  the  house,  tried  to  kindle  a  fire  in  the  kitchen  stove, 
when  the  clothing  of  one  of  them  became  ignited.  A 
tramp  who  happened  to  be  passing  the  house  at  the 
time  saw  the  flames  at  the  window,  and  ran  to  the 
door,  but  found  it  locked.     He  then  broke  through 


KNIGHTS  OF  THE  SORROWFUL  FIGURE.       23 

one  of  the  windows  and  extinguished  the  little  girl's 
burning  garments.  He  continued  his  efforts  in  spite 
of  being  severely  burned  on  his  hands  and  arms  until 
he  succeeded  in  putting  out  the  fire  in  the  rooms. 
When  some  neighbors  arrived,  and  the  tramp  was 
convinced  that  the  children  would  be  well  cared  for 
until  their  parents  returned,  he  left  the  house,  saying : 
"  I  am  so  glad  I  had  the  privilege  of  saving  the  child 
from  death.  She  reminds  me  of  one  I  once  lost  when 
things  were  different  with  me."  He  was  urged  to 
tarry  and  receive  a  reward  for  his  services,  but  he  re- 
fused. "  Poor  as  I  am, "  he  said,  "  I  would  never  ac- 
cept a  reward  for  saving  a  child's  life."  There  was  a 
vein  of  gold  in  that  man  worth  saving  at  any  cost.  If 
we  could  only  know  the  sad  story  of  many  a  man  or 
woman  who  seems  only  a  stick  of  human  driftwood, 
and  understand  the  deep  soul-hunger  and  possibilities 
for  goodness'  underneath  a  rough  exterior,  we  would 
be  more  patient  and  more  Christlike  in  our  compas- 
sion in  seeking  and  saving  the  lost. 

"THE  KNIGHTS  OF    THE    SORROWFUL  RGURE," 

Some  one  aptly  describes  the  people  who  go  around 
full  of  cynical  criticism,  and  finding  a  rotten  spot  in 
life's  sweetest  joys,  as  "  the  Knights  of  the  Sorrowful 
Figure. "  But  the  disciples  of  Jesus  have  no  right  to 
go  about  in  any  such  masquerade.  It  is  not  a  fancy 
or  a  dream,  but  the  real  truth,  that  there  is  always 
a  bright  side  to  life  and  to  every  experience  in  life, 
and  the  bright  side  is  the  right  side,  the  side  where 


24  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

God  is.  There  is  no  sorrow  so  dark  but  you  may 
delve  out  from  under  it,  if  you  will  keep  your  face 
toward  the  light  and  dig  with  courageous  heart. 

DRAINING  THE  MARSHES. 

The  proposition  to  drain  the  Hackensack  and  New- 
ark meadows  is  a  constant  source  of  discussion.  It  is 
very  interesting  from  many  standpoints.  It  would 
not  only  reclaim  to  fertility  a  large  extent  of  land 
that  is  now  useless,  but  it  would  add  to  the  healthful- 
ness  of  the  atmosphere  breathed  by  millions  of  people, 
besides  doing  away  with  a  vile  breeding-place  of  in- 
numerable mosquitoes  that  torture  multitudes  of  hu- 
man victims  every  summer.  There  seems  to  be  no 
objection  anywhere;  all  the  discussion  is  about  the 
method  by  which  it  may  be  best  accomplished. 

Christianity  is  in  this  world  to  clean  up  and  drain 
all  the  pestilent  marshes  that  have  been  caused  by 
sin.  The  slums  of  our  cities  are  marshes  which  it  is 
our  duty  to  cleanse  out  of  existence  and  leave  self- 
respecting  populations  in  their  place.  Every  liquor- 
saloon  is  a  marsh  which  breeds  many  sorts  of  vile  and 
poisonous  tormentors;  it  must  be  drained  and  trans- 
formed into  some  honorable  business,  and  yield  to 
the  welfare  of  the  community  rather  than  to  its  de- 
struction. The  only  way  properly  to  reclaim  a  liquor- 
saloon  is  to  drain  all  the  liquor  off.  A  genuine  Chris- 
tian faith  that  gets  into  the  bone  and  sinew  of  its 
possessor  will  make  him  a  constant  enemy  of  these 
vile  marshes  of  sin. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  OPTIMIST.  25 

THE  LCX)M  OF  LIFE. 

This  world  is  God's  factory.  There  are  multitudes 
of  busy  weavers,  both  visible  and  invisible,  forever 
plying  their  shuttles  on  the  loom  of  life,  weaving 
the  warp  and  woof  of  human  experience.  Every  life 
in  a  combination  of  many  threads,  and  almost  every 
day's  experience  shows  the  bringing  together  of  in- 
fluences from  all  parts  of  the  earth.  Earth  and  sky, 
law  and  literature  and  art,  past  and  present  and  fu- 
ture, all  yield  their  threads  into  the  weaver's  ready 
hands  to  help  make  up  the  finished  robe  of  every  day's 
life  experience.  Few,  if  any,  of  us  appreciate  how 
numerous  and  diversified  are  the  "  all  things"  which 
are  constantly  working  together  under  God's  loving 
eye  to  bring  about  the  good  results  which  he  designs 
for  them  that  love  him. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  OPTIMIST. 

The  Christian  must  be  an  optimist,  in  the  very  na- 
ture of  things.  If  he  is  sure  that  all  things  are  work- 
ing together  for  his  good,  he  would  be  a  strange  crea- 
ture indeed  to  go  around  with  his  head  down.  Those 
who  go  about  Christian  work  with  long  faces  and  no 
joy  in  their  hearts  get  little  done,  or  do  their  work  in 
a  way  that  is  anything  but  a  good  advertisement  of 
their  religion.  We  ought  to  go  to  Christian  work 
every  day  rejoicing  in  the  Lord,  like  the  victorious 
soldiers  at  the  battle  of  Leuthen.  They  sang  a  Chris- 
tian song  as  they  marched  to  the  engagement.     A 


26  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

general  asked  the  king  if  he  should  stop  the  singing. 
"  No, "  said  the  king ;  "  men  that  can  sing  like  that 
can  fight. " 


BURNING  UP  THE  BREAD  OF  LIFE. 

In  a  storm  on  Lake  Erie,  the  steamer  ran  out  of 
fuel,  and  was  compelled  to  throw  small  sacks  of  flour 
out  of  the  cargo  into  the  furnaces  in  order  to  keep  up 
steam,  A  car-load  of  flour  was  burned  in  this  way 
before  the  steamer  came  into  port.  Of  course  every- 
body will  agree  that  it  was  much  better  to  burn  up  a 
car-load  of  flour  than  that  a  whole  ship-load,  as  well 
as  the  officers  and  crew,  should  have  gone  to  the  bot- 
tom ;  but  how  different  it  would  be  if  a  captain  should, 
out  of  indifference  or  carelessness,  burn  his  cargo  to 
make  steam  for  his  voyage!  Yet  that  is  what  we  are 
doing  in  American  citizenship  when  we  sacrifice  our 
principles  and  burn  up  100,000  of  our  citizens  in  the 
saloons  in  order  that  we  may  get  revenue  from  a 
licensed  partnership  in  the  liquor  traffic.  And  the 
individual  citizen  who  thus  forswears  his  conscience 
burns  up  the  bread  of  life  in  the  furnace  of  party  pre- 
judice or  greed  of  gold. 

THE  MEMORIAL  TO  COLONEL  SHAW. 

One  of  the  most  significant  memorials  that  has 
been  erected  in  the  present  generation  is  the  one  which 
was  unveiled  on  Boston  Common,  May  31,  1897,  to 
Colonel  Robert  Gould  Shaw,  who,  in  the  face  of  many 


HEROIC  CITIZENSHIP  NEEDED.  27 

a  sneer  of  prejudice  and  opposition,  led  his  regiment  of 
colored  troops  with  splendid  heroism,  and  found  his 
death  on  the  battle-field.  It  is  encouraging  to  every 
man  to  go  straight  forward,  doing  his  duty,  whatever 
it  is,  assured  that  time,  God's  great  arbiter,  will  set 
him  right.  How  splendidly  Thomas  Bailey  Aldrich 
opens  his  "  Memorial  Ode"  : 

"  Not  with  slow,  funereal  sound 

Come  we  to  this  sacred  ground  ; 
Not  with  wailing  fife  and  solemn  mufiled  drum, 

Bringing  a  cypress  wreath 

To  lay,  with  bended  knee. 

On  the  cold  brows  of  Death — 

Not  so,  dear  God,  we  come  : 

But  with  the  trumpet's  blare 
And  shot-torn  battle-banners  flung  to  air, 
As  for  a  victory ! " 


HEROIC  anZENSHIP  NEEDED  IN  QTY  STREETS. 

A  young  lady  in  New  York  City  saw  hitched  to  a 
truck  a  horse  which  was  manifestly  very  ill  and  un- 
fit to  be  driven ;  but  his  driver  urged  him  on  with 
repeated  blows,  until  finally  the  poor  sick  animal  fell 
a  helpless  heap  in  the  street.  The  driver  grasped  the 
bridle  and  savagely  pulled  and  kicked  to  force  the 
poor  beast  to  his  feet.  Then  this  well-dressed  young 
woman  stepped  into  the  street  and  exclaimed  to  the 
driver :  "  Unhitch  that  poor  creature ;  do  you  not 
understand  that  it  has  fallen  from  sheer  exhaustion?" 
But  the  driver  refused  with  a  brutal  remark,  which 
caused  the  young  girl  to  beckon  to  a  policeman  who 


28  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

was  passing.  "  I  am  a  member  of  the  Society  for  the 
Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals, "  she  said.  "  I 
order  you  to  arrest  this  man  for  cruelty.  The  horse 
is  unable  to  draw  the  truck,  and  he  refuses  to  unhitch 
it  from  the  shafts.  I  will  act  as  complainant." 
When  the  case  was  called  in  court  the  young  girl 
was  on  hand,  and  managed  it  herself,  and  the  driver 
was  held  for  trial.  That  is  good  citizenship  in  time 
of  peace.  It  requires  great  self-denial  on  the  part  of 
some  people  to  perform  that  kind  of  duty,  but  there  is 
no  class  of  duties  more  important,  if  we  are  to  have  a 
law-abiding  nation. 

HOW  TO  TREAT   THE  FOES  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 

An  Illinois  boy  had  a  very  interesting  experience 
with  a  she-wolf  and  her  cubs.  He  was  only  fourteen 
years  old,  but  full  of  pluck.  He  rode  out  on  his  pony 
one  afternoon,  with  an  ax  tied  to  the  horn  of  his  sad- 
dle, and  his  squirrel-dog  following,  hoping  to  capture 
some  squirrels  in  the  timber.  After  they  had  gone 
some  distance  in  the  woods,  the  dog  charged  toward  a 
hollow  log,  and  began  barking  furiously,  but  did  not 
dare  enter.  The  boy,  getting  off  his  horse,  knelt  and 
peered  into  the  cavity,  and  saw  glaring  out  upon  him 
the  fierce  eyes  of  a  large  wolf,  around  which  were  six 
puppies.  She  snapped  her  teeth  viciously.  The  boy, 
with  rare  courage  for  one  of  his  age,  sharpened  some 
stakes  with  his  ax,  and  drove  them  over  the  entrance 
to  the  log,  the  dog  meanwhile  keeping  the  wolf  inside. 
After  having  imprisoned  the  animal,  the  boy  mounted 


TAKE  YOUR  HOUSE  WITH  YOU.  29 

his  horse,  rode  quickly  home,  and  returned  with  a 
small  revolver.  He  then,  lying  flat  on  the  ground, 
began  firing  into  the  log,  and  did  not  cease  until  he 
had  killed  the  wolf,  which  made  desperate  efforts  to 
get  out.  The  lad  had  no  trouble  killing  the  wolf  pups 
with  his  ax,  and  then  loaded  his  victims  upon  the 
horse  and  carried  them  all  proudly  home.  That  is 
what  we  want  to  do  in  American  citizenship.  The 
she-wolf  of  crime,  of  poverty,  of  political  corruption, 
of  lawlessness  and  anarchy,  is  the  legalized  liquor 
traffic.  If  the  Christian  citizens  of  this  country  would 
only  get  together  on  some  common  platform  and  shoot 
the  old  she-wolf  of  the  licensed  saloon  to  death  with 
their  ballots,  it  would  be  a  short  matter  to  slay  the 
pups  that  suck  at  her  breast,  and  the  kingdom  of  God 
would  come  in  the  earth. 


TAKE  YOUR  HOUSE  WITH  YOU. 

One  of  the  interesting  things  connected  with  the 
Klondike  gold  excitement  is  the  preparations  made  to 
build  houses  to  be  sent  from  New  York  to  Alaska  in 
sections  and  put  up  in  the  gold-camps.  Vessels  are 
loaded  with  these  ready-made  houses  in  New  York 
harbor,  and  sent  around  Cape  Horn,  thus  reaching 
Alaska  in  time  for  the  opening  of  navigation  on  the 
Yukon  at  the  beginning  of  summer.  That  is  the  way 
we  must  do  in  going  to  heaven,  in  regard  to  a  house 
of  character  for  the  soul.  It  is  idle  for  us  to  suppose 
we  shall  enjoy  heaven  unless  we  cultivate  the  heaven- 
ly spirit  here.     We  must  take  heaven  with  us,  made 


30  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

day  by  day  in  the  doing  of  duty,  in  resisting  tempta- 
tion, in  obedience  to  Christ  here  in  this  world. 


PRINTING  ON  THE  SKIES. 

A  man  in  Cincinnati  has  invented  an  apparatus  by 
which  it  is  proposed  to  print  news  or  bulletins  in  let- 
ters of  fire  on  the  sky.  The  apparatus  is  worked  by 
electricity.  First,  a  shadowy  sheet  regulated  to  suit 
the  size  of  the  bulletin  or  telegram  is  cast  upon  the 
heavens  by  an  electric  camera,  and  then,  with  another 
camera,  words  in  fiery  letters  are  cast  on  this.  It 
is  the  dream  of  the  inventor  that  the  time  will  come 
when  the  important  news  of  the  day  will  be  spread 
out  on  the  skies  each  evening,  so  that  every  toiler 
can  read  in  comfort  and  at  his  leisure;  and  these 
news  bulletins,  prepared  by  conscientious,  intelli- 
gent, and  incorruptible  public  officials,  will  bring 
about  the  abolition  of  ignorance,  misinformation, 
and  prejudice.  Whatever  may  be  the  result  of  this 
invention,  we  know  that  there  is  an  invention  as 
old  as  the  human  race  that  has  been  registering 
matters  of  infinite  moment  in  the  skies.  Jesus  said 
to  his  disciples,  when  they  were  rejoicing  that  even 
the  devils  were  subject  to  them,  that  it  would  be  more 
appropriate  to  rejoice  because  their  names  were  writ- 
ten in  heaven.  We  may  know  that  our  names  are 
written  there  if  we  have  within  us  the  spirit  of  Christ; 
but  Paul  declares  that  if  we  have  not  the  spirit  of 
Christ  we  are  none  of  his. 


SHOW  YOUR  FAITH  BY  YOUR  WORKS.       31 

SHOW  YOUR  FAITH  BY  YOUR  WORKS. 

In  Poughkeepsie,  N,  Y.,  the  agent  of  the  Society 
for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals  was  collect- 
ing a  tax  of  one  dollar,  levied  by  law,  upon  the  owner 
of  every  dog  in  the  city.  Under  this  law,  every  dog 
upon  which  the  tax  was  not  paid  within  a  specified 
time  must  be  taken  to  the  pound  and  killed.  For 
several  days  a  poor,  lonely  dog,  homeless  and  friend- 
less, had  been  wandering  the  streets.  It  seemed  evi- 
dent he  would  end  his  days  in  the  pound,  but  one  day 
a  blind  boy,  who  was  crossing  Main  street,  unaware 
of  the  approach  of  a  trolley-car,  suddenly  heard  the 
ringing  of  the  gong,  and  stopped,  bewildered,  right 
in  the  track  of  the  car.  The  motorman  jammed  his 
brake  down  hard,  but  it  was  evident  that  he  could 
not  stop  before  the  car  struck  the  youth.  Women 
shrieked,  but  no  one  went  to  save  the  blind  boy. 
The  old  dog  happened  to  be  standing  by;  he  took  one 
look  at  the  blind  lad,  leaped  to  him,  and,  pulling 
him  by  the  coat-sleeve,  caused  him  to  step  from  the 
track  just  as  the  car  grazed  his  shoulder.  The  dog 
was  enthusiastically  cheered.  Somebody  started  a 
collection,  and  enough  money  was  raised  not  only  to 
pay  the  tax,  but  to  buy  the  dog  a  collar  with  brass 
trimmings.  The  father  of  the  blind  boy  adopted  the 
waif,  naming  him  Rescue,  and  he  will  have  a  good 
home  as  long  as  he  lives.  If  one  wants  to  capture 
the  attention  and  sympathetic  interest  of  humanity, 
let  him  throw  his  faith  into  action  in  the  rescue  of 
the  blind  and  the  tempted.  Make  your  faith  live  in  a 
helping  hand,  and  men  will  believe  in  it. 


32  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

GIVE  YOUR  HEART  ROOM. 

The  newspapers  have  been  telling  us  of  a  child  who 
had  been  given  up  to  die,  because  his  heart  did  not 
have  room  to  work,  who  was  cured  in  a  few  weeks  by 
an  old  physician  in  Missouri,  who  punched  and  prod- 
ded the  lad  until  he  gave  the  heart  more  room.  The 
little  fellow's  chest  by  this  constant  exercise  was  re- 
constructed on  new  architectural  lines  and  his  cure  is 
now  considered  permanent.  There  are  a  good  many 
Christians  who  are  suffering  from  that  sort  of  trouble 
who  might  be  cured  in  the  same  way.  A  great  many 
people  are  so  shut  in  by  their  selfishness  that  the  heart 
does  not  have  a  fair  chance  to  perform  its  functions. 
God  often  seeks  by  prodding  us  and  punching  us  and 
putting  us  under  the  hard  pressure  of  discipline  so  to 
enlarge  us  that  the  heart  may  beat  in  a  manner  wor- 
thy of  the  sons  of  God.  Let  us  welcome  his  loving 
correction. 

THE  POOR  MAN'S  CHRIST. 

How  much  more  Jesus  Christ  has  meant  to  the 
world  because  he  lived  a  life  of  toil  and  hard  work, 
and  knew  the  exactions  of  poverty  and  self-denial! 
His  ancestry  had  in  its  list  many  a  poor  toiler  like 
Ruth  the  gleaner.  He  spent  his  boyhood  playing  in 
the  shavings  of  a  humble  little  carpenter-shop  in 
Nazareth.  He  knew  what  it  was  to  be  lonely  and 
tired.  He  was  touched  with  our  infirmities  at  every 
point,  and  yet  kept  his  soul  spotless  and  never  lost 


STRENGTH  IN   UNION.  33 

his  divine  courage.  What  a  wicked  thing  it  is  when 
any  one  undertakes  to  set  the  working-people  against 
Christ!  Up  from  slavery  to  justice  and  noble  man- 
hood, he  will  lead  to  a  new  earth  wherein  dwelleth 
righteousness. 

STRENGTH  IN  UNION. 

Paul  prays  for  the  Thessalonian  Christians,  that 
they  might  abound  more  and  more  in  love  one  to  an- 
other. That  wise  master-builder  knew  that  in  such  a 
union  there  would  be  invincible  strength.  All  com- 
mon life  is  full  of  illustrations  of  this  truth.  A  man 
fishing  for  black  bass  near  the  shore  of  a  lake,  the 
other  day,  saw  a  large  black -snake  hanging  head  down- 
ward from  a  bush  and  swinging  to  and  fro.  At  first 
he  thought  it  was  admiring  itself  in  the  water ;  but 
suddenly  a  little  chipmunk  ran  from  under  a  log  near 
by,  and,  quick  as  a  flash,  the  snake  seized  it  by  the 
head,  and  at  the  same  time  lost  its  hold  on  the  bush 
and  dropped  into  the  water.  It  quickly  swam  ashore, 
dragging  the  young  chipmunk  with  it,  and  deliberately 
began  swallowing  the  chipmunk  without  attempting 
to  crush  it.  The  chipmunk's  head  had  entirely  dis- 
appeared when  another  chipmunk  jumped  on  the 
snake's  back,  and  off  again,  in  a  flash;  and  then  an- 
other chipmunk  came,  and  still  another,  and  on  and 
off  they  jumped,  striking  their  sharp  teeth  into  the 
snake's  body,  inflicting  a  terrible  wound,  and  then 
getting  away  so  quickly  that  they  avoided  a  stroke  of 
his  tail.  Finally,  with  a  fling  of  its  head,  the  snake 
3 


34  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

got  rid  of  the  chipmunk  it  had  been  swallowing,  and 
glided  away  in  a  lacerated  condition.  The  valiant 
chipmunks  then  turned  their  attention  to  the  one  that 
was  so  near  death,  and  found  that  he  was  not  much 
hurt.  When  Chri:|,ians  stand  by  each  other,  in  lov- 
ing fellowship,  they  can  put  all  enemies  to  flight. 
The  Bible  declares  that  one  genuine  Christian  can 
chase  a  thousand,  but  two  can  put  ten  thousand  to 
flight. 

LOST  A  CISTERN  BUT  GAINED  A  RIVER. 

A  most  curious  freak  of  lightning  is  reported  from 
near  Bucyrus,  Ohio.  A  very  severe  electrical  storm 
passed  over  that  part  of  the  country,  and  during  its 
progress  lightning  struck  a  residence  and  followed  the 
eaves-trough  and  waterspout  into  the  cistern,  which 
had  been  filled  to  overflowing  by  recent  rains.  After 
supper  a  trip  was  made  to  the  pump  to  get  water  to 
use  in  the  kitchen,  but,  tho  the  pump  was  worked 
vigorously,  no  water  came.  An  examination  showed 
that  the  cistern  was  empty.  A  small,  bluishly  stained 
hole  in  the  bottom  showed  where  the  water  had  run 
out,  and  the  gurgle  of  an  underground  stream  could 
be  plainly  heard.  Evidently  the  bolt  of  lightning 
pierced  a  thin  crust  of  earth  which  separated  the  cis- 
tern-bottom from  a  river  of  fresh  water  running  un- 
derground. What  farmer  with  a  cistern  would  not 
like  to  trade  it  for  a  stream  of  living  water  like  that? 
That  is  what  Christ  asks  of  the  worldling — to  ex- 
change his  little  cistern  of  temporary  pleasures  and 


LOST  BY  SAVING.  35 

riches  for  the  living  fountain  that  shall  spring  up  into 
everlasting  joy  and  peace. 

SAVING  PEOPLE  IN  SPITE  OF  THEMSELVES. 

Two  men  going  into  a  rough  surf  at  Eockaway 
Beach  were  warned  by  a  boy  aged  fifteen  years  to  be- 
ware of  the  undertow,  but  they  told  him  to  mind  his 
own  business  and  treated  his  warning  with  contempt. 
Before  they  had  been  in  the  water  five  minutes  there 
was  a  swirl  of  waters  about  one  of  the  men,  and  he 
was  draM'n  down,  twirling  about.  The  other  man 
swam  to  his  assistance,  but  he,  too,  was  dragged  un- 
derneath. Then  the  nobility  of  the  brave  lad  came 
out.  He  went  to  their  assistance  and  risked  his  own 
life  to  save  theirs.  That  is  the  way  Jesus  Christ 
does  with  poor  sinners;  tho  they  sin  against  his 
warnings,  y^t  he  follows  after  them,  even  when  they 
are  caught  by  the  deadly  undertow  and  are  dragged 
down  into  shame  and  disgrace.  He  swims  out  to  them 
with  the  life-line  of  hope  and  mercy.  We  must  have 
the  same  spirit  toward  the  lost. 

LOST  BY  SAVING. 

The  expert  appointed  by  one  of  the  railroad  com- 
panies to  tell  the  reason  for  the  comparative  failure  of 
the  Delaware  peach-crop  in  1897  said  that  the  peaches 
nearly  all  dropped  from  the  trees  during  the  month  of 
June.  The  damage  was  done  by  the  curculio,  and 
wherever  it  stings  the  peach  is  sure  to  fall.     So  nu- 


36  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

merous  were  these  destructive  insects  that  a  peach 
was  noticed  with  thirteen  stings  on  it,  any  one  of 
which  would  have  spoiled  it.  This  gentleman  says 
the  rapid  increase  of  the  curculio  is  the  fault  of  the 
peach-growers  themselves.  In  1895  and  1896  there 
were  large  crops  of  peaches,  and  the  ground  under  the 
trees  was  covered  with  fruit  that  had  either  rotted 
and  fallen  off,  or  had  been  thrown  there  as  culls  and 
left  to  rot.  Instead  of  picking  up  the  decayed  fruit, 
as  is  done  by  the  California  fruit-growers,  and  getting 
rid  of  it  in  some  other  way,  it  was  left  there  for  these 
insects  to  breed  in,  with  the  consequence  that  in  1897 
there  was  an  enormous  crop  of  curculios,  and  the 
peaches  were  destroyed.  They  saved  in  labor  one 
year,  but  they  lost  a  hundredfold  another  year. 
Many  a  young  man  lets  the  worms  breed  in  his  sur- 
plus money  or  his  leisure  time — worms  that  sting  him 
to  death  in  days  to  come. 

THE  GRAVE  OF  GOLD. 

India  is  said  to  be  the  grave  of  gold.  A  constant 
stream  flows  into  that  country,  year  by  year,  but  there 
is  no  ebb  tide.  The  money  does  not  reappear  in  the 
Indian  banks.  There  is  but  one  possible  solution  of 
the  difficulty.  India  is  the  one  corner  of  the  world 
where  hoarding  is  yet  largely  practised.  Many  of 
the  splendid  maharajahs  have  become  shrewd  enough 
to  use  banks  of  deposit,  but  there  is  still  barbaric  dis- 
play of  jeweled  idols  in  the  strong-rooms,  and  of 
golden  vessels  in  the  princes'  apartments.     More  im- 


PRACTICAL  CHRISTIANITY.  37 

portant  than  all  this,  the  plain  people,  who  have  no 
use  for  banks,  simply  hide  away  money,  a  rupee  here 
and  a  rupee  there.  Every  year  in  India  many  thou- 
sands of  people  are  killed  by  venomous  snakes  or  wild 
beasts;  others,  of  course,  die  suddenly  of  natural 
causes.  It  is  thought  that  a  large  portion  of  these 
leave  hoards  of  which  the  hiding-places  are  known 
only  to  themselves,  and  so  their  little  treasures  are 
forever  lost  to  the  world.  This  hoarding  does  not 
make  the  country  rich,  but  keeps  it  poor.  It  is  a 
good  illustration  of  Christ's  words :  "  He  that  saveth 
his  life  shall  lose  it." 

TUNNELING  THROUGH  OBSTACLES. 

What  a  splendid  question  that  is  of  Paul:  "If 
God  be  for  us,  who  can  be  against  us?"  He  does  not 
answer  it,  for  no  answer  is  necessary.  Nothing  can 
stand  in  the  way  of  a  determined  soul  that  obey-s  God. 
Helen  Keller,  deaf,  dumb,  and  blind,  joyously  wel- 
comed those  who  tunneled  into  her  imprisoned  soul 
along  the  single  nerve  of  sensation  in  the  palm  of 
her  hand,  and  is  conquering  vast  fields  of  knowledge. 
At  fourteen  years  of  age  she  received  two  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars  for  a  magazine  article.  How  this 
ought  to  shame  some  of  us  who  lie  down  lazily  in  front 
of  obstacles  which  a  little  pluck  and  self-denying  ex- 
ertion would  carve  into  a  stairway  for  higher  achieve- 
ments ! 

PRACTICAL  CHRISTIANITY. 

Paul's  prayer  at  his  conversion,  on  the  way  to 
Damascus,  when  he  was  overwhelmed  by  the  wonder- 


38  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

ful  vision  which  he  beheld,  and  asked  tremblingly, 
as  he  staggered  to  his  feet,  "  Lord,  what  wilt  thou 
have  me  to  do?"  is  suggestive  of  the  practical  char- 
acter of  his  Christian  career.  The  church  would  take 
on  new  life  and  vitality  everywhere  if  ail  Christians, 
young  and  old,  were  to  arise  some  morning  with  that 
prayer  swelling  up  from  their  hearts.  Above  all  else, 
we  need  men  and  women  whose  religion  is  in  their 
very  blood,  and  controls  in  the  daily  duties  of  life. 

THE  MEN  NEEDED. 

During  the  Queen's  Jubilee  exercises  in  England, 
a  very  stirring  poem  which  was  written  by  the  Bishop 
of  Exeter  was  recited  by  Canon  Fleming  at  the  close 
of  an  impassioned  speech  and  aroused  the  greatest 
enthusiasm.  The  poem  was  entitled  *'  Give  Us  Men!" 
I  quote  one  verse,  which  applies  as  well  to  America 
as  to  England : 

"  Give  us  men  I 

Strong  and  stalwart  ones ! 
Men  whom  highest  hope  inspires, 
Men  whom  purest  honor  fires. 
Men  who  trample  self  beneath  them, 
Men  who  make  their  country  wreath  them 

As  her  noble  sons. 

Worthy  of  their  sires  1 
Men  who  never  shame  their  mothers, 
Men  who  never  fail  their  brothers, 
True,  however  false  are  others ; 

Give  us  men,  I  say  again, 

Give  us  men." 


HELPING  TO  MAKE  THE  WORLD  CLEAN.     39 

HUMANITY'S  NEED  SHOULD  BE  OUR  MASTER. 

In  the  war  between  Turkey  and  Greece,  the  first 
American  who  volunteered  to  go  and  nurse  the  wounded 
Greek  soldiers  was  a  slender,  blue-eyed  little  woman 
of  twenty-five.  She  was  a  graduate  of  a  surgical  hos- 
pital. In  reply  to  the  reporters,  she  said :  *'  I  should 
not  have  taken  this  step  were  it  not  that  I  am  a  trained 
nurse  by  profession.  I  understand  thoroughly  the 
gravity  of  the  step  I  am  taking.  I  have  thought  over 
every  phase  of  it,  but  the  necessity  seems  to  me  to 
overbalance  any  personal  danger  that  may  be  in- 
curred." That  is  the  secret  of  really  heroic  service: 
a  keen  sense  of  humanity's  need,  and  a  feeling  that 
we  are  responsible  to  use  our  gifts,  whether  natural 
or  acquired,  for  the  service  of  our  fellow-beings. 

HELPING  TO  MAKE  THE  WORLD   CLEAN. 

A  story  is  related  that  Queen  Victoria,  in  her  girl- 
hood, was  spending  the  day  with  an  aunt,  who,  won- 
dering how  to  entertain  the  child,  made  a  rash  offer : 
"Victoria,  you  shall  amuse  yourself  just  as  you  want 
to  amuse  yourself  to-day.  Choose  anything,  and  you 
shall  do  it,  if  it  is  possible."  The  small  guest  took 
in  the  gravity  of  her  situation,  meditated  carefully, 
and  announced  her  decision :  "  I  have  always  wanted 
to  wash  windows. "  So  the  usual  pail,  chamois-skin, 
etc.,  were  provided;  and  the  future  Queen  of  Great 
Britain  and  Empress  of  India  scrubbed  away  diligently 
to  her  heart's  content.  It  would  be  a  good  thing  if 
all  people  who  are  to  be  in  authority,  whether  as  may- 


40  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

ors,  or  governors,  or  presidents,  or  kings,  or  queens, 
could  have  a  preliminary  course  of  scrubbing  of  a 
higher  and  more  important  kind.  Every  one  who 
has  power  is  under  obligation  to  the  extent  of  his 
ability  to  make  the  world  a  cleaner,  healthier,  and 
safer  place  in  which  to  live. 

GATHERING  UP  THE  FRAGMENTS. 

The  United  States  Assay  Office,  in  Wall  Street, 
has  an  annual  sweeping  to  gather  up  the  fine  dust  of 
gold  which  would  otherwise  be  lost.  I  suppose  no 
housekeeper  in  the  world  subjects  her  house  to  quite 
so  thorough  a  sweeping  as  this  building  receives. 
Chimneys,  ceilings,  walls,  and  flues  are  scraped,  floors 
are  mopped — sometimes  torn  up — and  roofs  are  swept. 
This  is  done  to  the  end  that  much  of  the  valuable 
metal  that  has  sifted  away  in  dust  may  be  returned 
to  swell  the  coffers  of  Uncle  Sam.  This  reminds  one 
of  the  command  of  Christ  to  his  disciples,  on  the  oc- 
casion recorded  in  the  New  Testament,  when  he  fed 
several  thousand  people  with  a  few  loaves  and  fishes, 
and  then  required  of  his  followers  to  gather  up  the 
fragments,  that  nothing  be  lost.  Many  people  who 
have  abundant  health  and  strength  are  tempted  to 
prodigality  and  wastefulness  in  time  and  opportunity. 
We  need  to  gather  up  the  fine  gold  of  every  day's 
privilege,  in  the  way  of  Christian  service.  It  is  often 
these  little  nicks  of  time  and  the  small  opportunities 
of  helpfulness  that  count  for  most. 


LIVING  BY  THE  SPIRIT.  41 

LIVING  BY  THE  SPIRIT  RATHER  THAN  THE 
LETTER. 

By  rank  mutiuy  and  the  courage  of  a  hero,  August 
Wilson,  a  boiler-room  mechanic,  saved  the  lives  of 
Chief  Engineer  Cowie  and  a  dozen  members  of  the 
crew  of  the  United  States  monitor  Puritan.  Thirty 
men  were  working  down  in  the  *'  inferno, "  for  that  is 
what  they  call  the  fire-rooms  of  the  warships.  The 
crown-sheet  of  one  of  the  boilers  was  blown  off,  and 
in  an  instant  the  whole  place  was  enveloped  in  a  blind- 
ing cloud  of  hot  steam  and  afloat  with  a  sea  of  scald- 
ing water.  August  Wilson  was  in  charge  in  the  com- 
partment, and,  altho  the  others  were  startled  and 
dazed  and  helpless,  he  kept  his  head.  Groping  to 
the  door  which  led  to  air  and  safety,  he  opened  it, 
and  called  out :  "  Stand  by  to  escape !  This  way 
out!"  One  by  one  the  men  under  his  command  were 
guided  through  the  doors  to  safety.  The  last  man 
left  was  the  brave  boiler-maker,  and  just  as  he  turned 
to  go  he  ran  plump  into  Chief  Engineer  Cowie,  who, 
attracted  by  the  report  of  the  explosion,  had  rushed 
down  to  the  fire-room  to  shut  off  the  valves  communi- 
cating with  the  other  boilers.  "  Let  me  pass, "  shouted 
the  engineer.  "Get  out  quick!"  replied  Wilson. 
There  was  no  time  to  explain,  and  so  the  big  boiler- 
maker  seized  his  chief  in  his  arms  and  pushed  him 
out  of  danger  by  main  force  and  saved  his  life.  Ac- 
cording to  the  letter,  it  was  rank  mutiny ;  but  in  spirit 
it  was  the  noblest  obedience.  It  is  a  good  illustration 
of  what  Paul  meant  when  he  said :  "  The  letter  kill- 
eth,  but  the  spirit  maketh  alive." 


42  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 


PAUL  AS  A  FRIEND. 

One  of  the  sweetest  stories  of  friendship  ever  writ- 
ten is  in  the  little  Book  of  Philemon,  which  is  the 
only  book  in  the  Bible  composed  entirely  of  a  private 
letter  written  by  Paul  to  one  of  his  friends.  Paul 
had  once  been  a  guest  in  Philemon's  house,  and  had 
been  the  cause  of  Philemon's  conversion.  Slavery 
was  universal  in  those  days,  and  Onesimus,  one  of 
Philemon's  servants,  ran  away  from  his  master  and 
drifted  to  Rome,  where  Paul  was.  Paul  received  the 
poor  refugee  with  gentleness  and  won  his  heart  to 
Christ.  Then  he  sent  him  back  to  Philemon  with 
one  of  the  loveliest  letters  any  man  ever  carried  in  his 
bosom.  The  noble  character  of  Paul  comes  out  in  his 
private  letters  perhaps  more  brightly  than  anywhere 
else. 

PAUL  ON  THE  WITNESS-STAND. 

Paul  thought  his  Christian  experience  was  by  far 
the  most  powerful  argument  he  could  give  to  the  truth 
of  the  Christian  religion.  When  he  was  brought  be- 
fore King  Agrippa,  instead  of  undertaking  to  defend 
himself  by  some  great  oration,  or  some  strong  legal 
argument,  which  he  was  well  able  to  make,  he  simply 
told  his  experience,  of  how  Christ  revealed  himself 
to  him  on  the  road  to  Damascus,  and  how  ever  after- 
ward he  had  been  obedient  to  the  heavenly  vision, 
and  had  gone  on  this  new  way  rejoicing.  The  gospel 
in  us  is  the  most  powerful  we  can  speak  to  the  peo- 
ple whom  we  wish  to  win. 


THE  SURE  ANCHORAGE.  43 

APPREQATING  ONE'S  FRIENDS. 

It  is  one  of  the  characteristics  of  truly  noble  souls 
that  they  are  tender  and  sensitive  in  their  apprecia- 
tion of  any  kindness  that  is  done  them.  Paul  was 
especially  grateful  to  the  people  who  stood  by  him  in 
the  times  of  need  that  often  came  in  the  course  of  his 
stormy  career.  There  is  a  very  delicate  touch  of  this 
sort  of  gratitude  in  his  second  letter  to  Timothy, 
where  he  says  to  his  young  friend :  "  The  Lord  give 
mercy  unto  the  house  of  Onesiphorus ;  for  he  oft  re- 
freshed me,  and  was  not  ashamed  of  my  chains ;  but, 
when  he  was  in  Rome,  he  sought  me  out  very  dili- 
gently, and  found  me.  The  Lord  grant  unto  him 
that  he  may  find  mercy  of  the  Lord  in  that  day ;  and 
in  how  many  things  he  ministered  unto  me  at  Ephe- 
sus,  thou  knowest  very  well." 

THE  SURE  ANCHORAGE. 

There  is  an  interesting  story  of  one  of  Paul's  sea- 
trips,  in  which  it  is  said  that  in  the  darkness  the 
sailors  cast  out  four  anchors  and  then  waited  for  the 
day.  There  are  some  anchors  that  we  may  be  sure 
will  always  hold.  Washington  Gladden  has  recently 
given  us  a  striking  little  poem  on  "  Things  that  Can 
Not  Pail. "     I  quote  four  verses : 

"  When  the  anchors  that  faith  has  cast 
Are  dragging  in  the  gale, 
I  am  quietly  holding  fast 

To  the  things  that  can  not  fail. 


44  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

"  I  know  that  right  is  right ; 
That  it  is  not  good  to  lie  ; 

That  love  is  better  than  spite. 
And  a  neighbor  than  a  spy. 

"In  the  darkest  night  of  the  year. 
When  the  stars  have  all  gone  out, 
That  courage  is  better  than  fear, 
That  faith  is  truer  than  doubt. 

"  And  fierce  tho  the  fiends  may  fight, 
And  long  tho  the  angels  hide, 
I  know  that  Truth  and  Right 
Have  the  universe  on  their  side.  " 


MIRACLES. 

The  age  of  miracles  has  not  passed.  To  take  a 
young  man  who  has  been  indifferent,  who  has  been 
living  along  as  tho  this  world  were  all,  and  suddenly 
confront  him  with  the  call  of  Christ,  and  have  him 
yield  to  that  call  so  that  he  turns  away  from  the 
things  he  has  loved,  and  enters  upon  a  new  life,  re- 
joicing in  the  fellowship  of  Jesus  Christ,  is  surely  a 
greater  miracle  than  to  cure  a  man  of  leprosy.  One 
Sunday  evening  a  young  man  heard  the  story  of 
Christ's  love  and  yielded  his  heart  to  it.  It  was  the 
first  time  he  had  ever  been  in  the  church  where  this 
wonderful  change  was  wrought.  A  few  days  after- 
ward I  received  a  letter  from  him  that  opened  with 
these  words :  "  I  have  found  much  peace  with  my 
Savior,  whom  I  accepted  as  my  personal  Savior  last 
Sabbath  evening.  I  only  regret  that  I  did  not  take 
that  step  a  long  time  ago ;  but  now,  as  a  young  man, 


WATER  IN  THE  DESERT'S  HEART.  45 

twenty-four  years  of  age,  I  shall  do  all  that  is  in  my 
power  to  advance  his  kingdom.  Oh,  how  grand  it  is 
to  be  a  Christian !  I  have  enjoyed  unspeakable  com- 
fort, peace,  and  joy  during  the  past  week." 

PAUL'S  THORN. 

A  great  deal  of  curiosity  has  been  piqued  during 
all  the  Christian  centuries  by  the  reference  which 
Paul  makes  in  the  twelfth  chapter  of  his  second  letter 
to  the  Corinthians,  concerning  his  "thorn  in  the 
flesh."  A  lady  said  the  other  day  that  if  Paul  hadn't 
been  a  bachelor  she  would  have  thought  Paul  meant  a 
wilful  child  by  the  reference  to  the  "  thorn" ;  but  at 
least  one  distinguished  writer  thinks  Paul  was  mar- 
ried and  this  thorn  was  a  scolding  wife.  Some  others 
think  it  was  a  malarial  fever,  and  any  one  who  has 
ever  had  malaria  or  fever  and  ague  knows  what  a  thorn 
that  is.  Still  others  think  it  was  weak  eyes  that 
troubled  him.  Whatever  it  may  have  been,  Paul  has 
been  relieved  from  it  for  a  great  while  now,  in  heaven. 
The  delightful  thing  about  the  story  as  he  gives  it  is 
that  tho  the  Lord  did  not  see  that  it  was  wise  to 
relieve  him  from  the  troublesome  thorn,  he  gave  him 
grace  to  endure  it  with  composure  and  good  cheer. 

WATER  IN  THE  DESERTS  HEART. 

The  most  important  feature  of  the  last  English  ex- 
pedition against  the  Mahdi  was  the  successful  sinking 
of  wells  in  the  heart  of  the  great  African  desert.     The 


46  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

presence  of  water  at  such  a  distance  from  the  Nile  had 
never  been  suspected,  either  by  Europeans  or  natives, 
and  bids  fair  to  revolutionize  not  only  the  desert  tribes, 
but  the  entire  conditions  of  desert  life.  Indeed,  the 
problem  of  converting  the  great  African  deserts  into 
fertile  territory  seems  to  be  at  length  in  a  fair  way 
toward  solution,  not  by  means  of  letting  in  the  sea,  as 
proposed  by  Count  de  Lesseps,  but  by  the  sinking  of 
wells.  Water  is  evidently  to  be  found  everywhere,  pro- 
vided one  digs  deep  enough.  And  the  Christian  will 
find  it  like  that  with  every  hard  experience  he  is  called 
upon  to  face  in  the  path  of  duty.  To  do  what  seems 
to  be  the  will  of  God  may  be  like  going  into  the  des- 
ert, but  if  we  look  beneath  the  surface,  and  dig  deep 
enough,  we  shall  find  there  the  water  of  life,  which 
will  transform  the  desert  place  into  a  garden  of  peace. 

THE  FATE  OF  THE  RECKLESS. 

A  large  party  of  mountain-climbers  made  the  ascent 
of  Mount  Rainier,  in  Washington,  during  the  summer 
of  1897.  They  reached  Camp  Muir  on  the  descent 
just  at  night,  and  prudence  required  that  they  should 
spend  the  night  there,  as  it  was  then  nine  o'clock,  and 
the  uncertain  light  reflected  from  the  sky  by  the  snow 
was  not  sufiicient  to  enable  them  safely  to  continue 
the  descent,  altho  it  is  easy  by  daylight.  Several 
young  men,  however,  dreading  an  uncomfortable  night, 
rejected  the  advice  of  the  guides  and  the  more  prudent 
of  the  party,  and  continued  their  journey  down  the 
mountain.     For  a   time   they  made   good   progress. 


THE  SOIL  FITTED  FOR  THE  SEED.  47 

Then  they  lost  the  trail  and  became  bewildered,  al- 
tho  they  could  plainly  see  the  beacon-fires  brightly 
burning  in  the  camp  below  them.  They  scattered  out 
in  all  directions,  but  go  where  they  would  they  found 
icy  slopes  too  steep  for  them  to  descend,  yawning 
crevasses  ready  to  swallow  them  up,  and  masses  of 
lava  rock  which  threatened  them  with  destruction 
should  they  lose  their  footing  and  slide  against  them. 
In  this  search  for  the  trail  Prof.  E.  S.  McClure,  of 
the  Oregon  State  University,  who  had  ventured  some 
distance  below  the  others,  was  suddenly  seen  to  throw 
up  his  hands  and  disappear.  A  dull  sound  like  the 
crashing  of  rocks  came  up  from  far  below,  and  then 
all  was  still.  His  companions  shouted  to  him,  but 
received  no  answer.  Next  morning  his  body  was 
found  on  the  precipice  below.  A  lack  of  patience  had 
lost  him  his  life.  Patience  to  endure  present  discom- 
fort for  the,  sake  of  the  safe  and  sure  reward  to-mor- 
row is  the  key  to  many  a  successful  life.  Moses  won 
his  crown  by  choosing  present  affliction  with  an  eye 
on  future  rewards. 

THE  SOIL  FITTED  FOR  THE  SEED. 

There  is  hope  of  winning  the  world  to  Christ  be- 
cause the  human  heart  everywhere  has  a  soil  to  which 
the  Gospel  seed  belongs.  That  was  a  striking  thing 
which  an  Indian  woman  said  when  she  first  heard 
the  message  of  the  missionary.  She  exclaimed: 
"  That  is  what  I  have  been  expecting  to  hear  all  my 
life." 


48  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

SEIZING  THE  LIFE-LINE. 

A  man  falling  from  the  ninth  story  of  a  new  build- 
ing in  Atlanta  was  saved  from  death  in  a  marvelous 
way.  As  the  falling  man  shot  through  the  air  he 
was  thrown  near  a  rope  which  was  being  hoisted  by 
the  engine  beneath  lifting  up  material  for  the  work- 
men. He  caught  at  this  rope  with  the  frenzy  of  a 
drowning  man  catching  at  a  straw,  and,  seizing  it, 
was  drawn  upward  and  hauled  safely  to  the  roof. 
It  is  the  mission  of  the  Christian  church  to  throw  the 
life-line  within  reach  of  falling  men.  We  never 
know  when  it  may  be  a  man's  last  chance,  and  should 
therefore  never  miss  an  opportunity  to  give  a  sinner 
a  chance  to  seize  the  life-line  of  hope. 


INSANE  FROM  IDLENESS. 

It  is  reported  that  seven  men  were  removed  from 
the  King's  County  penitentiary  to  insane  asylums  in 
one  week  who  were  driven  mad  by  the  lack  of  em- 
ployment. Work  is  a  sweet  refuge  for  man,  physi- 
cally, mentally,  and  morally.  To  bend  one's  mind 
and  heart  to  performing  a  task  worth  doing  is  the 
surest  path  to  peace.  In  good,  honest  work,  needed 
for  the  advancement  of  humanity,  one  comes  into 
close  fellowship  with  Him  who  ever  works,  and  who 
is  "the  Lord  of  Peace."  Christ  put  the  crown  on  the 
head  of  the  worker  when  he  said :  "  My  Father  work- 
eth  hitherto,  and  I  work." 


THE  LITTLE  FOXES.  49 

THE  STING  OF  THE  SWEET. 

A  farmer  undertook  to  hive  a  swarm  of  bees.  One 
lighting  on  his  face  received  an  angry  blow,  when  the 
entire  swarm  settled  about  the  head  of  the  unfortu- 
nate man  and  stung  him  until  he  screamed  and  howled 
with  anguish.  He  rolled  over  and  over  on  the  damp 
earth,  and  several  other  men  went  to  his  aid,  but 
when  they  rescued  him  he  was  dead.  Many  are 
stung  to  death  by  the  sweets  of  life.  It  was  the 
quails  that  started  the  plague  in  the  camp  of  the 
Israelites.  Many  a  man  is  all  right  so  long  as  he 
lives  on  simple  manna,  but  the  honey  of  prosperity 
has  for  him  the  sting  of  destruction. 

THE  LITTLE  FOXES. 

A  canal  n6ar  Oklahoma  City,  in  Oklahoma  Ter- 
ritory, was  destroyed  in  a  strange  way.  Public- 
spirited  capitalists  believed  that  the  waters  of  the 
rapidly  flowing  North  Canadian  Eiver  could  be  used 
to  operate  all  the  mills  that  could  be  placed  on  its 
banks  at  Oklahoma  City.  Engineers  were  employed 
to  make  a  survey,  and  it  was  said  that  a  canal  five 
miles  long  could  be  made  to  carry  the  water  that  ran 
a  distance  of  twenty  miles  by  the  sinuous  course  of 
the  river.  Many  thousands  of  dollars  were  spent  in 
constructing  the  canal.  It  was  diked  part  of  the  way, 
and  the  river  was  crossed  twice.  Its  completion  was 
an  occasion  of  great  importance  to  the  city.  The 
water  was  let  in  at  the  head  gate,  and  the  electric- 
4 


60  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

light  plant  and  a  large  flouring-mill  were  run  as  if  by 
magic.  An  unsuspected  enemy,  small  in  size  but 
prodigious  in  industry,  soon  overwhelmed  the  enter- 
prise in  disaster.  The  banks  of  the  canal  were  of 
porous  sandy  soil.  Gophers  attacked  the  dike.  A 
hole  no  larger  than  a  man's  wrist  burrowed  by  these 
animals  widened  into  a  crevasse  in  half  an  hour  and 
the  water  easily  swept  away  the  sandy  dike.  It  was 
so  expensive  fighting  these  little  animals  that  the 
promotors  of  the  enterprise  gave  it  up  in  despair,  and 
the  canal  is  a  thing  of  the  past.  One  needs  to  beware 
of  little  sins  that  burrow  in  the  dark  and  sap  the  cur- 
rents of  life.  It  is  the  "  little  foxes"  that  spoil  the 
vines. 

YOUTH  IN  DANGER. 

Two  young  girls  went  out  rowing  from  Fisher's 
Island,  in  Long  Island  Sound.  The  wind  and  tide 
were  against  them.  The  rudder  of  the  boat  was 
swept  away  and  they  lost  one  of  the  oars.  They 
were  in  easy  sight  of  their  friends  on  shore,  who  saw 
them  waving  their  handkerchiefs,  and  heard  their 
shouts  for  help,  but  thought  the  girls  were  only  play- 
ing. Not  until  the  darkness  hid  the  helpless  girls 
from  view  did  the  truth  dawn  upon  the  people  on  the 
shore.  Then  messengers  were  despatched,  telegraph 
and  telephone  were  called  into  requisition,  and  naph- 
tha launches  and  steam  yachts  were  sent  out  in  search. 
The  girls  finally  drifted  ashore  after  a  fearful  night, 
and  parents  and  friends  spent  a  night  of   agony  in 


LOST  WITH  HELP  NEAR.  61 

search  before  they  had  tidings  of  their  safety.  Many 
a  youth  drifts  to  ruin  while  friends  looking  on  think 
it  is  only  play.  A  life  lived  for  pleasure's  sake  alone 
has  always  slumbering  within  it  the  elements  of  a 
tragedy  or  a  shipwreck. 

THIEVES  IN  PRIESTS'  ROBES. 

A  Catholic  church  in  Brooklyn  was  robbed  in  full 
view  of  the  street  in  a  peculiar  way.  The  robbers 
entered  the  rear  of  the  church,  and,  clothing  them- 
selves in  white  surplices,  boldly  lighted  all  the  jets 
in  the  sacristy  and  commenced  their  work.  Peo- 
ple saw  them  in  the  church,  but  supposed  that  they 
were  priests  performing  some  ceremony.  It  is  a  testi- 
mony to  the  worth  of  Christianity  that  the  robes  of  a 
Christian  profession  are  sometimes  worn  by  wolves 
who  seek  thereby  only  to  cover  up  their  ravening. 
Men  do  not  counterfeit  a  coin  unless  it  is  valuable. 

LOST  WITH  HELP  NEAR. 

A  man  fell  overboard  from  a  steamer  at  the  Brook- 
lyn wharf  and  was  permitted  to  drown  through  the 
ignorance  and  gross  carelessness  of  the  steamer's 
crew.  Everybody  cried,  "  Save  him !  Throw  a  rope! 
Get  a  life-belt!"  but  nobody  did  anything  in  time  to 
save  his  life.  I  fear  there  are  churches  in  that  con- 
dition. People  perishing  within  sight  of  the  preacher 
and  the  membership,  going  down  even  out  of  their 
own  families,   and   many  remarks   are  made  about 


52  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

"reaching  the  masses,"  "throwing  out  the  life-line," 
or  "  rescuing  the  perishing, "  but  nobody  really  does 
it,  and  immortal  souls  drift  away  and  are  lost. 

DO  IT  NOW. 

A  little  three-year-old  girl  in  Williamsburg  toppled 
from  a  third-story  window,  and  would  have  been  im- 
paled upon  the  sharp  points  of  an  iron  fence  but  for 
the  bravery  and  promptness  of  a  grocer's  boy.  He 
was  carrying  a  big  cheese  in  his  arms,  and  when  he 
saw  the  child  fall  and  strike  against  the  cornice  on 
the  store  he  dropped  the  cheese  and  darted  to  the  iron 
fence  and  caught  the  child  in  his  outstretched  arms. 
The  impact  of  her  body  forced  the  brave  fellow  to  the 
ground,  but  the  little  child  did  not  even  touch  the 
pavement.  There  are  many  things  that  must  be  done 
like  that  or  it  is  too  late.  If  you  have  a  duty  to  per- 
form, do  not  dally  or  wait,  but  do  it  now  1  "  What- 
soever thy  hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might." 

GREAT  SUCCESSES  MEAN  HARD  WORK. 

Mr.  Hall  Caine's  book,  "The  Christian,"  which  is 
said  to  have  brought  its  author  the  largest  pecuniary 
reward  ever  paid  for  a  work  of  fiction,  cost  three 
years  of  the  hardest  kind  of  work.  At  first  he  made 
six  barrels  of  notes,  then  the  complete  book  was  re- 
written three  times.  This  is  simply  another  sugges- 
tion that  great  successes  are  the  result  of  hard,  pains- 
taking work.  Mushrooms  will  grow  in  a  night,  but 
they  are  only  mushrooms  after  they  are  grown. 


MAN'S  WEAKNESS  AND  GOD'S  POWER.       53 

MONT  BLANC  YIELDS  ITS  DEAD. 

Capt.  Henry  Arkwright,  who  was  aide-de-camp  to 
the  Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  a  guide  named 
Michael  Simond,  and  two  porters,  Franqois  and  Joseph 
Tournier,  were  killed  by  an  avalanche  on  the  Grand 
Plateau  of  Mont  Blanc,  in  October,  1866.  The  bodies 
of  the  guide  and  the  porters  were  found  after  a 
week,  but  Captain  Arkwright' s  body  was  only  recov- 
ered from  the  ice  in  August,  1897,  nine  thousand  feet 
below  where  he  died.  The  ice  had  preserved  in  his 
hand  the  red  tint  of  blood  for  thirty  years.  From 
the  pocket  of  his  gray  waistcoat  was  drawn  a  blue- 
bordered  handkerchief  as  good  as  new,  with  his  name 
on  it.  The  deceased  officer's  collar  had  in  it  a  gold 
stud,  and  in  his  shirt-front  was  a  larger  one  set  with 
a  diamond  star.  His  gold  watch  and  chain  were 
found  on  the  ice  near  the  body.  The  justice  of  the 
peace,  the  mayor,  a  doctor,  and  the  local  gendarmes 
held  an  inquest  over  the  remains  as  tho  the  acci- 
dent had  occurred  only  the  day  before.  There  is 
something  impressive  in  the  grim  old  mountain's 
yielding  up  its  dead  after  so  many  years,  a  suggestion 
of  the  day  when  earth  and  sea  shall  yield  up  their 
dead  for  the  final  judgment. 

MAN'S  WEAKNESS  AND  GOD'S  POWER. 

The  utter  impotency  of  man's  wisdom  or  strength 
to  cope  with  the  mighty  forces  of  nature  when  once 
they  are  aroused  was  impressively  illustrated  on  Mt. 


54  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

Washington,  in  the  White  Mountains,  when  the  wind 
picked  up  one  of  the  mountain  trains,  consisting  of 
an  engine,  a  passenger-car,  and  a  baggage-car,  as  the 
it  had  been  a  toy,  and  threw  it  over  the  precipitous 
side  of  the  mountain,  where  it  was  completely  demol- 
ished. Man  is  strong  only  as  he  allies  himself  with 
God's  power  through  loving  obedience. 

"BE  YE  ALSO  READY." 

The  Scripture  declaration  that  in  the  midst  of  life 
we  are  in  death  had  never  a  more  striking  illustration 
than  in  a  thunder-storm  on  the  Hudson,  where  a  young 
officer  of  the  Twenty-Second  Kegiment,  militia,  was 
sitting  writing  a  letter  in  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  tent. 
There  were  several  long  tables  in  the  tent,  at  which 
the  men  were  accustomed  to  sit  and  write.  Corporal 
McDonald  and  ten  others  sat  at  the  table  nearest  the 
entrance.  The  young  corporal  had  arranged  to  cele- 
brate the  close  of  the  tour  of  camp  duty  on  the  follow- 
ing Saturday  by  getting  married,  and  when  the  tent 
was  struck  by  lightning,  leaving  its  mark  on  the  floor 
and  furniture,  he  was  writing  to  his  betrothed.  The 
letter  was  complete,  and  its  last  words  were :  "  Yours 
until  death. "  The  date  was  to  follow,  but  when  the 
expectant  bridegroom  had  written  "  State  Cam — "  the 
flash  came  and  the  pen  stopped.  The  tour  of  duty 
was  over — taps  had  been  sounded — the  lights  were 
out.  The  best  way  to  be  ready  to  die  is  to  live  with 
reverent  fidelity  to  duty.  None  of  us  ought  to  leave 
anything  undone  for  last  hours  which  may  never  be 
consciously  known  to  us. 


WITHOUT  A   GUIDE.  55 

THE  PATH  OF  THE  SIMOOM. 

It  has  certainly  been  a  very  significant  fact  that  so 
many  of  Mr.  Ingersoll's  relatives  and  friends  have 
sought  to  take  their  own  lives.  Some  men  go  through 
this  world  having  the  influence  of  a  deadly  simoom, 
that  withers  and  blasts  wherever  it  touches;  that 
seems  to  be  the  influence  of  this  notorious  infidel's 
teaching.  It  is  an  awful  thing  to  prostitute  brilliant 
gifts  to  such  an  end. 

WITHOUT  A  GUIDE. 

A  wealthy  citizen  of  Portland,  Ore.,  lost  his  life  in 
a  foolhardy  attempt  to  ascend  the  snow-clad  summit 
of  Mount  Hood  without  a  guide.  He  declined  to  take 
a  guide  with  him  from  the  inn,  and  in  reply  to  all 
warnings  said  that  he  was  determined  to  register  him- 
self in  the  record-book  on  the  summit  as  a  "  party  of 
one."  He  ascended  to  within  about  eight  hundred 
feet  of  the  summit,  when,  instead  of  taking  the  safe 
but  longer  route,  he  attempted  to  climb  a  steep  in- 
cline, where  the  snow  covers  a  treacherous  footing  of 
sliding  shale,  and  where  a  footstep  is  likely  to  bring 
down  an  avalanche.  The  foundation  gave  way  under 
his  feet,  and  down,  down  he  swept  in  a  fearful  descent, 
grasping  at  every  jutting  point  of  rock,  until  he  was 
thrown  over  a  precipice  four  hundred  feet  high  and 
crushed  to  death.  This  unfortunate  man  might  have 
gone  to  the  summit  in  safety  if  only  he  had  had  a 
competent  guide.     His  fate  is  a  sad  illustration  of  the 


56  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

fate  of  many  who  are  attempting  to  climb  the  giddy 
heights  of  life  relying  on  their  own  strength  and  wis- 
dom, and  refusing  the  guiding  hand  of  the  Divine 
Savior. 

A  DESERTED  GOLD-MINE. 

Two  miners  have  returned  from  the  desert  region 
in  Arizona,  near  the  Mexican  border,  bringing  a  story 
of  extreme  suffering  and  of  their  success  in  the  dis- 
covery of  the  California  mine,  one  of  the  most  famous 
of  the  lost  mines  of  the  West.  The  region  seems  ab- 
solutely waterless,  and  they  could  stay  at  the  mine 
only  a  short  time,  but  brought  back  samples  of  gold- 
specked  ore  taken  from  the  bottom  of  the  shaft,  where 
they  found  the  tools  left  by  the  miners  of  over  thirty 
years  ago.  It  is  their  intention  to  return  with  a  com- 
plete outfit  and  reopen  the  mine,  which  has  remained 
unworked  for  a  generation. 

There  are  a  good  many  deserted  mines  in  our  large 
cities,  in  the  shape  of  Christian  churches  from  which 
the  members  and  workers  of  years  ago  have  moved 
away.  There  is  a  tendency  to  return  to  these  old 
mines  and  reopen  them  with  reinforced  strength  and 
devotion.  These  old  churches,  standing  in  the  midst 
of  the  crowded  populations  of  the  poor  and  the  sinful, 
are  the  richest  gold-mines  in  the  world,  and  will  yield 
rich  return  to  the  spiritual  miner. 

THE  GLORY  OF  A  RIGHTEOUS  OLD  AGE. 

It  must  be  an  infinitely  sad  thing  for  an  old  man  to 
see  the  gray  hairs  coming  on  his  head,  the  wrinkles 


HIDDEN  TREASURES.  57 

gathering  on  his  brow,  to  feel  the  trembling  and  hesi- 
tation of  age  in  his  step,  to  know  that  the  end  of  his 
earthly  career  can  not  be  far  off,  and  yet  to  feel  that 
the  lines  of  the  poet  are  true  of  him : 

"I'm  farther  off  from  heaven  to-day 
Than  when  I  was  a  boy." 

How  different  it  is  to  the  sincere  Christian,  who 
feels  as  age  comes  on  that  every  step  is  bringing  him 
nearer  to  heaven,  and  is  bringing  into  his  heart  and 
life  ever  more  and  more  of  the  spiritual  atmosphere  of 
the  heavenly  land! 

SELF-MADE  BONDS. 

Dr.  Henry  Van  Dyke,  in  a  poem,  brings  out  very 
clearly  and  beautifully  the  great  truth  that  no  one  can 
really  harm  us  but  ourselves.  The  real  chains  which 
bind  the  soul  are  self-made,  and  deliverance  can  only 
come  through  that  Divine  Love  which  saves  us  from 
our  own  sinful  self.     These  are  his  lines : 

"  Self  is  the  only  prison  that  can  ever  bind  the  soul, 
Love  is  the  only  angel  who  can  bid  the  gates  unroll ; 
And,  when  he  comes  to  call  thee,  arise,  and  follow  fast : 
His  way  may  lie  through  darkness,  but  it  leads  to  light  at 
last.  " 

HIDDEN  TREASURES. 

A  whaling-bark  returning  to  New  York  brought,  in 
addition  to  its  cargo  of  oil  and  whalebone,  a  lump  of 
ambergris  weighing    eleven    pounds,   worth  $320   a 


68  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

pound.  They  took  many  whales,  but  only  one  had  a 
store  of  this  precious  commodity.  The  treasure  came 
to  them,  however,  in  the  line  of  their  regular  duty, 
and  suggests  a  great  truth — that  it  is  to  the  men  and 
women  who  proceed  with  fidelity  on  the  course  of 
their  mission  that  unexpected  treasures  are  likely  to 
come ;  and  not  to  the  one  who,  indifferent  to  the  pro- 
saic requirements  of  daily  life,  is  looking  for  some  un- 
usual and  romantic  good  fortune.  To  him  that  is  true 
in  commonplace  days,  God  will  intrust  greater  com- 
mission in  times  of  emergency. 

"SECURE  AMIDST  PERILS/' 

It  is  related  that,  on  the  first  awful  day  of  the  fight 
against  fire  made  on  board  the  City  of  Rome,  the  pas- 
sengers had  been  driven  out  of  the  forward  cabins  and 
their  quarters  were  shifted  aft.  It  was  impossible  to 
set  the  evening  meal  in  the  first  cabin,  and  it  was 
spread  aft  also.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the  dis- 
cipline of  the  ship  made  it  possible  to  serve  the  evening 
meal,  and  perhaps  still  more  remarkable  that  most  of 
the  passengers  gathered  at  it,  and  many  of  them  en- 
joyed it.  In  fact,  it  was  even  a  cheerful  meal,  and 
the  prevailing  spirit  seemed  to  reflect  the  motto  of  the 
Anchor  Line,  "  Secure  Amidst  Perils."  If  voyagers 
could  sit  down  and  eat  their  dinner  quietly  and  with 
good  cheer,  knowing  that  they  were  hundreds  of  miles 
from  land,  and  an  awful  fire  was  raging  in  the  hold 
underneath  them,  because  of  their  faith  in  the  captain 
and  the  heroic  fidelity  of  the  crew,  how  much  more 


BEARING  ONE'S  OWN  BURDEN.  59 

should  we,  on  the  voyage  of  life,  trust  the  Great  Cap- 
tain, and  face  the  storms  of  human  living  with  good 
cheer  and  confidence.  It  ought  to  be  easy  to  follow 
the  Psalmist's  injunction :  "  Trust  in  the  Lord  and  do 
good ;  so  shalt  thou  dwell  in  the  land,  and  verily  thou 
shalt  be  fed.  Delight  thyself  also  in  the  Lord ;  and 
he  shall  give  thee  the  desires  of  thine  heart.  Com- 
mit thy  way  unto  the  Lord ;  trust  also  in  him ;  and 
he  shall  bring  it  to  pass." 

BEARING  ONE'S  OWN  BURDEN. 

The  letter  of  Samuel  L.  Clemens  (Mark  Twain)  to 
the  editor  of  the  New  York  Herald,  declining  to  ac- 
cept the  fund  which  that  journal  had  undertaken  to 
raise  for  his  relief,  is  full  of  suggestive  illustration. 
The  famous  humorist  writes :  "  I  made  no  revelation 
to  my  famrily  of  your  generous  undertaking  in  my  be- 
half, and  for  my  relief  from  debt,  and  in  that  I  was 
wrong.  Now  that  they  know  all  about  the  matter, 
they  contend  I  have  no  right  to  allow  my  friends  to 
help  me  while  my  health  is  good  and  my  ability  to 
work  remaius ;  that  it  is  not  fair  to  my  friends,  and 
not  justifiable,  and  that  it  will  be  time  enough  to  ac- 
cept help  when  it  shall  be  proven  that  I  am  no  longer 
able  to  work.  I  am  persuaded  that  they  are  right. 
While  they  are  grateful  for  what  you  have  done,  and 
for  the  kindly  instinct  which  prompted  you,  it  is 
urgent  that  the  contributions  be  returned  to  the  givers 
with  their  thanks  and  mine.  I  yield  to  their  desire, 
and  forward  their  request  and  my  indorsement  of  it 


60  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

to  you.  I  was  glad  when  you  initiated  that  move- 
ment, for  I  was  tired  of  the  fact  and  worry  of  debt, 
but  I  recognize  that  it  is  not  permissible  for  a  man 
whose  case  is  not  hopeless  to  shift  his  burdens  to 
other  men's  shoulders."  Nothing  that  Mark  Twain 
has  ever  written  will  so  commend  him  to  the  honor  of 
mankind,  now  and  in  the  future,  as  this  letter.  One 
of  the  important  truths  that  need  emphasizing  in  our 
time  is  Paul's  declaration  that  "every  man  shall 
bear  his  own  burden,"  when  he  is  able.  That  is  just 
as  true  and  as  important  a  statement  as  the  other 
made  in  the  same  chapter,  "Bear  ye  one  another's 
burdens."  Self-respect  requires  us  to  do  to  the  full 
measure  of  our  possibility  before  we  accept  sympa- 
thetic aid. 

UNKNOWN  HEROES. 

After  the  writer  of  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Hebrews 
has  mentioned  seventeen  names  of  heroic  characters, 
he  seems  suddenly  to  catch  a  vision  of  that  great  back- 
ground of  unknown  heroes  whose  fidelity  and  splendid 
heroism  made  the  triumphant  leadership  of  those 
whom  he  had  named  possible ;  and  he  closes  the  list 
with  this  significant  sentence :  "  And  others,  ...  of 
whom  the  world  was  not  worthy."  The  great  bulk 
of  the  work  of  life  is  done  by  heroes  who  are  un jour- 
nalized and  unknown.  This  is  strongly  illustrated  in 
the  struggle  which  the  City  of  Rome  had  against  fire 
at  sea.  Below  in  the  stoke-hole  the  smoke  became  so 
thick  that  the  firemen  kept  up  steam  with  diflficulty. 
It  grew  worse  and  worse  until  the  men  could  only 


THE  DEVIL'S  SLEUTH-HOUND.  61 

work  short  shifts,  and  exhaustion  began  to  tell  upon 
them.  But  without  the  steam  to  keep  pumps  and 
engines  going,  the  fire  would  have  had  its  own  way 
with  the  City  of  Rome,  and  the  stokers  were  spurred 
on  in  their  labors.  At  last  it  was  difficult  to  breathe 
in  the  fire-rooms,  and  the  shift  was  cut  down  more, 
but  even  this  hardly  lightened  the  labors  of  the  men, 
and  one  fell  at  his  work.  Toppling  forward,  he  fell 
on  his  face  in  the  ashes,  and  was  carried  on  deck 
senseless,  and  on  the  brink  of  death.  The  labors  of 
the  stokers  were  still  further  severe  from  the  fact  that 
when  not  below  in  the  stoke-hole  they  were  mustered 
for  service  on  the  saloon  deck ;  but  to  the  honor  of 
humanity  be  it  said  that  not  one  member  of  all  the 
ship's  company  shirked  his  turn.  God  keeps  record 
of  all  the  unknown  heroes,  and  not  even  a  cup  of  cold 
water  offered  with  the  right  motive  shall  go  unre- 
warded.    ' 

THE  DEVn/S  SLEUTH-HOUND. 

The  victims  of  the  liquor  traffic  who  are  victims 
through  no  fault  of  their  own  are  being  hunted  to 
the  death  before  our  horror-stricken  eyes  every  day. 
A  wife  in  Brooklyn  leaped  from  the  second-story  win- 
dow into  the  street  to  escape  the  murderous  assault 
of  her  drunken  husband.  She  struck  on  her  head  and 
was  taken  up  dead.  Her  little  five-year-old  boy  was 
left  motherless,  with  such  a  father  as  one  can  imagine. 
This  drunken  maniac  pursuing  his  terror-stricken 
wife  through  the  window  to  her  death  seems  a  fitting 
suggestion  of  the  character  of  this  entire  traffic,  as  it 


62  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

hunts  down  poor  suffering  humanity  through  all  our 
streets.     "  How  long,  0  Lord,  how  long?" 


ENDURING  TO  THE  END. 

There  is  something  pathetic  in  the  story  of  the  ship 
Francis,  of  New  Bedford,  Mass.,  which  was  wrecked 
on  the  New  Jersey  coast.  The  ship  had  had  a  four- 
months'  voyage  of  fair  sailing,  and  the  captain  and 
crew  were  hopeful  of  closing  a  pleasant  journey  in  a 
day  or  so,  when  suddenly,  in  sight  of  land,  and  almost 
in  sight  of  the  harbor,  the  ship  took  fire  and  both 
the  vessel  and  the  cargo  were  destroyed.  The  officers 
and  crew  escaped  only  with  their  lives.  It  is  sad  to 
go  down  in  sight  of  port.  There  are  many  such 
wrecks  of  the  moral  and  spiritual  kind — men  and 
women  who  have  made  honorable  careers,  but  who 
forfeit  all  their  gain  of  a  lifetime  by  some  sad  lapse 
into  sin  when  almost  in  sight  of  the  port  of  Old  Age. 
The  middle-aged  and  the  old  need  to  be  watchful  as 
well  as  the  young.  It  is  the  one  that  endures  to  the 
end  that  shall  be  saved. 

THE  TRAGEDY  OF  SINGLE  SINS. 

A  woman  in  Frankfort,  Ky.,  was  the  victim  of  a 
strange  accident.  She  arose  in  the  night  to  get  a 
drink  of  water,  and  in  drinking  she  also  swallowed 
a  small  black  spider  that  had  dropped  into  the  bucket 
during  the  night.  She  felt  the  spider  going  down  her 
throat,  but  did  not  know  what  it  was.     In  an  hour  or 


THE  BLINDNESS  OF  SIN'S  SLAVERY.         63 

two  she  became  nauseated,  and  ejected  the  spider,  but 
not  until  it  had  bitten  her  internally.  The  poison 
from  the  bite  soon  spread  through  her  system,  and 
her  condition  became  alarming.  The  flesh  puffed  up 
in  rolls  and  ridges,  her  ears  swelled  so  tightly  that 
the  blood  oozed  through  the  skin,  while  her  tongue 
swelled  till  she  almost  suffocated.  Physicians  worked 
for  several  hours,  administering  all  the  antidotes 
known  to  medical  science,  and  finally  saved  her  life. 
The  little  spider  that  had  such  a  venomous  bite  is  not 
larger  than  a  pea,  and  can  roll  itself  up  into  a  com- 
plete ball  and  float  on  the  water  like  a  piece  of  cork. 
So  a  single  sin  may  poison  the  whole  life-blood  of  the 
moral  nature.  A  single  sinner  in  a  circle  of  acquain- 
tance may  spread  his  moral  pestilence  through  a  score 
of  hearts.     Beware  of  the  tragedy  of  single  sins ! 

THE  BLINDNESS  OF  SIN'S  SLAVERY, 

A  wild,  insane  negro,  about  sixty  years  old,  was 
captured  in  Alabama.  His  hair  was  matted  closely 
to  his  head  with  crude  turpentine,  making  his  head 
look  twice  its  normal  size.  The  upper  part  of  his 
body  was  uncovered.  He  wore  a  remarkable  pair  of 
short  trousers,  consisting  of  seven  pairs,  placed  one 
inside  the  other,  and  quilted  together  with  leather 
strings.  They  had  evidently  seen  years  of  service. 
He  was  bareheaded  and  barefooted.  Since  his  cap- 
ture he  has  acted  like  a  wild  animal.  It  is  believed 
that  the  man  escaped  from  bondage  before  the  war, 
and  has  since  lived  in  the  swamps,  not  knowing  that 


64  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

the  war  had  given  him  his  freedom.  Alas !  how  many 
men  there  are  whom  the  bondage  of  sin  drives  into 
the  deep  swamps  of  vice  and  crime,  and  they  die 
there  in  their  despair,  never  realizing  that  Christ  has 
redeemed  them,  and  that  the  price  of  their  full  par- 
don has  been  paid.  It  is  a  chief  part  of  the  Chris- 
tian's privilege  to  shout  the  good  tidings  of  deliver- 
ance to  those  who  are  in  bondage. 

RIDING  TO  DEATH. 

A  strong  young  man  who  was  an  expert  wheelman, 
and  felt  that  he  was  safe  anywhere,  lost  control  of  his 
wheel  on  the  pier  at  Hoboken,  and,  being  unable  to 
stop,  rode  off  the  end  of  the  pier  into  the  river.  It 
is  supposed  that  his  feet  became  entangled  in  the 
wheel ;  at  all  events,  he  sank  and  did  not  rise  again. 
One  is  reminded  of  the  Scripture,  "Let  him  that 
thinketh  he  standeth  take  heed  lest  he  fall."  No 
man  is  safe  who  depends  solely  on  his  own  strength 
or  wisdom  to  lead  a  good  life.  History  and  observa- 
tion combine  to  teach  us  that  the  strongest  men  and 
women  are  liable  to  lose  their  self-control  and  fall 
into  sin  unless  they  are  nerved  and  sustained  by  di- 
vine fellowship. 

WASTED  WEALTH. 

Edward  Schieffelin,  the  miner  who  discovered 
Tombstone,  Arizona,  and  who  twenty  years  ago  was 
immensely  wealthy,  died  alone,  in  a  little  log  cabin, 


RUNNING  FROM  SALVATION.  65 

without  friends  or  money,  in  the  mountains  of  Oregon. 
He  was  a  man  of  great  energy  and  of  splendid  courage, 
and  at  one  time  was  a  millionaire,  but  scattered  his 
wealth  in  erratic  ways  until  old  age  found  him  in 
poverty.  Many  do  the  same  thing  in  a  spiritual  way. 
In  youth  they  are  enriched  by  spiritual  wealth,  which 
comes  to  them  in  a  Christian  home,  and  in  the  rich 
faith  of  godly  parentage  and  Christian  education. 
Faith,  hope  and  love,  with  all  their  train  of  virtues, 
are  ready  to  be  builded  into  their  character  and  dower 
them  with  princely  spiritual  fortune.  But  these  are 
frittered  away  for  glittering  worldly  pleasures  or  am- 
bitions, that  turn  to  ashes  in  their  hands  and  leave 
them  in  the  end  spiritually  bankrupt.  The  spiritual 
bankrupt  is  the  most  hopeless  of  all,  for  "  What  shall 
it  proiit  a  man  if  he  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose 
his  own  soul?" 

RUNNING  FROM  SALVATION. 

A  young  girl  ran  from  a  house  on  a  New  York 
street  with  her  dress  ablaze,  screaming  with  terror. 
Some  little  boys  rushed  to  her  assistance,  and  one  of 
them,  with  remarkable  presence  of  mind,  quickly 
threw  off  his  coat  and  tried  to  smother  the  flaming 
dress  with  it,  and  would  have  succeeded,  but  the  girl, 
driven  frantic  with  pain,  pulled  away  from  him  and 
dashed  up  the  street,  when  the  wind  caught  her  dress 
and  fanned  the  flames  to  her  destruction.  Alas!  mul- 
titudes of  poor  sinners  are  doing  the  same  thing! 
Afire  of  evil  and  suffering  from  their  own  wrong- 
5 


66  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

doing,  they  turn  away  from  the  Bible  and  the  church 
and  the  minister  and  those  who  would  put  out  the 
flames  of  sin  with  gladness,  and  flee  wildly  toward 
their  own  disaster. 

TRY  AGAIN. 

The  German  steamer  Arcadia  was  wrecked  in  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  Her  passengers  and  crew, 
numbering  nearly  a  hundred  people,  had  a  desperate 
experience  in  trying  to  reach  land.  Three  men  at- 
tempted to  swim  through  the  surf,  one  after  another, 
with  the  life-line,  but  failed.  Then  a  fourth  brave 
man  stepped  to  the  front,  and  he  succeeded,  and  at- 
tached the  hawser  to  the  rocks  in  a  favorable  position, 
so  that  all  were  safely  landed  after  a  hard  struggle. 
Let  no  man  fail  to  strike  for  the  life-line  and  salva- 
tion from  sin  because  one  man  or  another  has  failed 
among  his  acquaintances,  or  because  attempts  of  his 
own  have  met  with  failure.  Try  again!  No  man 
shall  fail  of  safety  who  throws  himself  into  the  waves 
with  face  toward  shore  and  reliance  upon  Christ. 

SAVING  THE  DRIFT-GOLD. 

A  remarkably  interesting  experiment  in  gold-mi- 
ning is  being  successfully  worked  in  the  Snake  River, 
in  Idaho.  It  has  long  been  known  that  enormous 
quantities  of  fine  gold  are  washed  down  the  creeks 
and  rivers  from  the  great  gold-yielding  mountains  of 
the  West,  and  lost  in  the  gravel-bars  and  mud-flats 
of  the  larger  streams.     Now  and  then  a  gravel-bar 


THE  DARKNESS  OF  THE  TOMB.  67 

has  been  worked  with  success,  but  nothing  has  been 
done  on  a  large  scale.  An  enterprising  man  has  now 
conceived  and  built  a  number  of  boats  fitted  to  work 
backward  and  forward  across  the  stream,  with  an  im- 
mense suction  pipe  worked  by  steam,  the  nose  of 
which  is  kept  to  the  gravel-bar  in  the  bed  of  the  river, 
and  which  sucks  up  the  sand  and  gravel,  or  anything 
else  within  its  reach,  on  to  the  deck.  All  this  mate- 
rial is  delivered  into  a  sluice  on  board  the  boat.  All 
the  coarse  stones  are  carried  by  an  endless  chain  over 
the  side  of  the  boat  into  the  water  again,  and  the 
gold-bearing  sand  is  conducted  over  burlap  tables  and 
finally  over  copper  plates,  where  the  gold  is  amalga- 
mated and  saved.  The  Christian  church  may  learn  a 
lesson  from  this  experiment  in  mining.  Innumerable 
particles  of  human  gold  have  been  swept  away  by 
rapid  currents  of  evil  from  the  home  veins  of  settled 
and  successful  life.  This  drift-gold,  which  in  Amer- 
ica comes  not  only  from  our  own  farms  and  villages, 
but  from  the  homes  of  every  nation  under  heaven,  we 
have  been  too  ready  to  give  over  as  hopeless  of  salva- 
tion. Let  us  arouse  ourselves  to  devise  schemes  by 
which  this  drift-gold  may  be  amalgamated  and  saved. 


THE  DARKNESS  OF  THE  TOMB  WITHOUT  THE 
CHRIST    HOPE. 

The  grave-diggers  in  Greenwood  Cemetery,  Tren- 
ton, N.  J.,  saw  an  old  white-haired  man  ride  past 
one  morning  on  his  bicycle,  with  a  bunch  of  rosebuds 
dangling  at  the  handle-bars ;  but  the  old  man  did  not 


68  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

see  them,  and  they  heard  him  muttering  to  himself : 
"Don't  look  at  the  handle-bars,  father!  look  straight 
ahead  of  you!"  The  old  man  was  on  his  way  to  the 
grave  of  his  son,  the  bright-faced  child  of  his  old  age, 
who  but  a  few  weeks  before  had  taught  his  father  how 
to  ride  the  wheel,  and  had  then  died  very  suddenly. 
Slowly  the  old  man  pedaled  up  beside  the  little  mound ; 
he  detached  the  bunch  of  roses,  and  laid  his  bicycle 
on  the  ground.  Then  he  knelt  by  the  grave,  stretched 
out  his  hands,  and  scattered  the  rosebuds  over  the  sods 
so  that  they  made  a  carpet  of  pink  and  white  and  yel- 
low. A  gardener  who  was  working  a  few  yards  away 
heard  the  old  man  repeat :  "  Don't  look  at  the  handle- 
bars, father!"  There  was  a  little  sob  in  his  throat  as 
he  said  the  words,  and  the  next  moment  he  had  pitched 
forward  over  the  grave,  with  his  face  among  the  roses. 
A  while  after  it  began  to  rain,  and,  noticing  that  he 
did  not  move,  the  workmen  went  and  touched  him  on 
the  shoulder  to  arouse  him,  but  he  did  not  respond. 
They  lifted  him  up  and  found  that  he  was  dead — 
dead  of  a  broken  heart.  And  it  would  break  all  our 
hearts  if  it  were  not  for  the  glorious  Easter  hope  we 
have  in  Jesus  Christ.  The  Christian  father  knows 
that  his  son  is  not  in  the  graveyard,  but  rejoicing  in 
the  realms  of  immortal  life.  Death  is  no  longer  a 
blind  alley,  but  a  thoroughfare  leading  toward  the 
world  of  light. 

THE  GLAD  IMMORTALITY  OF  THE  GOOD. 
In  the  splendid  ode  written  by  Thomas  Bailey  Al- 
drich  for  the  unveiling  of  the  Shaw  Memo-rial  on  Bos- 


A  FAILING  FIGHT.  69 

ton  Common,  one  of  the  truest  and  happiest  conceits 
of  the  poet  is  found  in  the  lines  which  elaborate  the 
fact  that  tho  we  at  first  shed  tears  of  sorrow  at  the 
death  of  our  true  and  noble  friends,  yet,  as  the  years 
go  on,  the  sorrow  vanishes  away,  and  only  our  love 
and  admiration  of  their  goodness  and  greatness  re- 
main.    Aldrich  sings: 

"Time  was — time  was,  all,  unforgotten  years! 
We  paid  our  hero  tribute  of  our  tears. 

But  now  let  go 
All  sounds  and  signs  and  formulas  of  wo  : 
'Tis  Life,  not  Death,  we  celebrate  ; 
To  Life,  not  Death,  we  dedicate 
This  storied  bronze,  whereon  is  wrought 
The  lithe  immortal  figure  of  our  thought. " 

A  FAILING  HGHT. 

Somewhere  to  the  westward  of  the  Costa  Kican 
coast  lies  the  wreck  of  the  full-rigged  Clyde  clipper 
Buckhurst,  bound  from  New  South  Wales  to  Panama 
with  coal.  For  ten  days  before  the  ship  was  deserted 
the  men  had  fought  fire  like  demons,  day  and  night. 
Sometimes  it  seemed  as  tho  they  would  gain  on  the 
fire,  and  be  able  to  reach  port,  but  about  the  time 
they  thought  they  had  the  flames  under  control  they 
would  burst  out  again  in  a  new  place.  At  last  they 
saw  there  was  no  possibility  of  saving  the  ship,  and 
officers  and  crew  took  to  the  small  boats.  Two  hours 
after  the  ship  was  abandoned  she  blew  up  and  went 
down.  That  is  like  the  disaster  that  comes  to  many 
a  voyaging  soul.     The  fire  of  sin  bursts  out  in  a  hu- 


70  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

man  heart.  A  man  undertakes  to  deal  with  it  by- 
shutting  down  the  hatches  and  pouring  upon  the 
flames  the  feeble  resistance  of  his  own  will,  already- 
enervated  and  half  palsied  by  his  sin.  Nothing  is 
more  sad  than  the  pathetic  attempts  which  men  make 
to  quench  the  flames  of  unholy  lust  and  appetite  that 
are  burning  everything  that  is  holy  and  good  out  of 
their  lives.  Men  fly  to  pledges  and  societies,  and 
bolster  themselves  up  in  one  way  and  another,  only  to 
find  that  the  flames  of  evil  that  are  barricaded  at  one 
spot  will  belch  forth  with  still  more  hellish  intensity 
somewhere  else.  Thank  God!  to  every  such  man 
there  is  hope  in  Jesus  Christ.  The  river  of  the  Wa- 
ter of  Life  is  abundant  enough  to  quench  all  the  fire 
of  evil. 

ON  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  GORGE. 

In  a  railroad  wreck  on  the  Wabash  road  at  Missouri 
City,  Mo.,  in  which  several  people  were  killed,  a  still 
more  appalling  disaster  was  narrowly  averted;  the 
passenger  train  had  broken  through  a  trestle,  and  a 
freight  train,  which  was  following  only  ten  minutes 
after,  must  be  flagged,  or  scores  of  passengers,  unable 
to  escape  in  time,  would  be  crushed  to  death.  Those 
who  were  free  rushed  back,  and  were  able  to  flag  the 
freight  train  within  a  few  feet  of  the  deadly  gorge ; 
but  those  few  feet  meant  safety.  There  is  an  illus- 
tration in  this  that  ought  to  quicken  the  energy  of 
every  Christian  worker.  Multitudes  about  us  are 
hastening  toward  disaster.  Our  only  possibility  of 
saving  them  is  to  catch  their  attention  and  arouse 


KISSING  THE  GOLD  GOD.  71 

their  consciences  before  it  is  too  late.     It  is  now  or 
never  with  many  a  man  of  our  acquaintance. 

PERISHING  ^TH  HELP  AT  HAND. 

One  of  the  saddest  possible  tragedies  occurred  on 
the  little  Eiver  Bronx.  The  stream  is  a  narrow  one, 
and  the  two  men  who  were  capsized  were  almost  within 
oar's  reach  of  pleasure-boats  about  them.  One  swim- 
mer was  striving  to  get  away  and  the  other  was  hold- 
ing on  with  the  death-clutch  of  a  drowning  man.  A 
boat  with  a  man  and  woman  in  it  was  near  enough  to 
save  them.  The  man  stood  up  to  reach  for  the  two 
and  draw  them  out.  The  woman  in  the  boat  lost  her 
wits.  "Don't  go  near  them!"  she  shrieked j  "they'll 
upset  us!"  And  as  he  reached  out  the  rescuing  arm, 
with  a  shriek  she  threw  herself  upon  him,  and  pinned 
his  arms  to  his  sides.  He  struggled  to  free  himself, 
but  the  woman,  unmindful  of  all  save  her  own  danger, 
hung  on  the  tighter ;  in  the  mean  time  the  drowning 
men  sank  to  their  death.  This  horrible  tragedy,  so 
unnecessary,  is,  I  fear,  duplicated  by  the  carelessness 
or  selfishness  of  many  Christian  people,  who  permit 
tempted  and  sinning  souls  that  are  perishing  within 
their  reach  to  go  down  to  hopeless  ruin  rather  than 
risk  the  disturbance  of  their  own  peace  and  comfort. 

KISSING  THE  GOLD  GOD. 

In  a  will  contest  before  Surrogate  Arnold,  of  New 
York  City,  the  niece  of  a  deceased  millionaire  testified 
that  she  once  went  with  her  uncle  to  visit  his  box  in 


72  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

a  safe-deposit  vault  to  look  over  his  bonds  and  other 
papers,  and  while  there  the  rich  man  took  a  package 
of  bonds,  kissed  them,  and  then  held  them  over  his 
head  and  exclaimed,  "  This  is  my  God.'"  I  fear  there 
are  many  who  are  not  so  frank  about  it  who  are  yet 
worshipers  of  the  gold  god.  But  it  is  better  to  go 
through  the  fiery  furnace  with  the  Hebrew  worthies 
than  to  prostrate  one's  self  before  this  golden  image. 

A  FATHER'S  LOVE. 

In  the  common  pleas  court  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  in 
the  trial  of  a  case,  the  question  was  raised  as  to  the 
affection  of  a  father  for  his  son.  A  physician  testi- 
fied that  when  the  boy  was  ill  it  became  necessary,  in 
order  to  save  his  life,  to  secure  some  living  flesh. 
The  father  was  informed  of  this,  and  he  unhesitatingly 
offered  to  allow  the  doctor  to  take  as  much  from  his 
body  as  he  needed  for  the  boy.  Thirty  pieces  of  liv- 
ing flesh  were  literally  cut  from  the  father's  body, 
causing  excruciating  pain  and  suffering.  In  the  hos- 
pital this  was  engrafted  on  the  poor  suffering  boy,  and 
he  soon  began  to  show  signs  of  renewed  strength. 
During  all  this  time  the  father  did  not  seem  to  notice 
his  own  suffering,  so  great  was  his  sympathy  for  the 
child.  What  a  commentary  such  an  incident  is  on 
such  Scriptures  as  "  Like  as  a  father  pitieth  his  chil- 
dren, so  the  Lord  pitieth  them  that  fear  him,"  or  the 
other  declaration  of  David,  "  When  my  father  and 
my  mother  forsake  me,  then  the  Lord  will  take  me 
up." 


THE  PRODIGAL'S  FATHER.  73 

THE  PRODIGAL'S  FATHER. 

A  very  romantic  aud  touching  incident  occurred  in 
the  City  Hospital  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.  A  well-known 
young  man  in  Baltimore,  who  belonged  to  an  old  and 
wealthy  family,  had  a  quarrel  with  his  father,  and 
left  home  in  anger,  leaving  his  parents  without  any 
knowledge  of  his  whereabouts.  The  broken-hearted 
father  traced  him  from  place  to  place  with  invitations 
to  return,  but  was  never  able  to  communicate  with 
him,  as  in  every  case  he  had  just  gone  on  to  some 
new  town.  He  finally  traced  him  to  Texas,  after  he 
had  been  away  for  six  years,  and  learned  that  he  was 
ill,  and  was  going  to  St.  Louis  to  the  hospital.  The 
father  immediately  wrote  to  the  hospital  so  that  the 
letter  would  be  waiting  for  his  son  when  he  reached 
St.  Louis,  telling  him  of  the  continued  love  of  his 
parents,  and  that  the  old  home  was  full  of  welcome 
for  him.  On  his  telegraphing  his  willingness  to  re- 
turn, the  father  immediately  telegraphed  him  money 
to  come  home  in  a  drawing-room  car,  in  comfort  and  a 
style  befitting  the  son  of  such  a  father.  That  is  a 
good  illustration  of  the  way  our  Heavenly  Father  treats 
poor  prodigal  men  and  women  who  have  wandered 
away  in  their  anger  and  rebellion.  He  not  only  fol- 
lows poor  sinners  with  invitations  to  return,  but  he 
goes  ahead  of  them,  and  meets  them  on  their  journey 
into  the  deeper  depths  of  misery  brought  about  by 
their  sins,  with  assurances  that  forgiveness  and  love 
are  waiting  at  the  mercy-seat.  Neither  does  God  ask 
his  prodigal  son  to  come  home  in  his  sinful  rags  like 


74  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

some  poor  old  tramp,  but  clothes  him  with  forgive- 
ness and  arrays  him  in  garments  of  righteousness,  so 
that  he  may  come  home  to  heaven  as  befits  a  son  of 
God. 


MURDER  AND  SUIODE  IN  THE  DRINK* 

How  monotonously  the  horrid  crimes  of  the  drink- 
curse  repeat  themselves,  over  and  over,  in  every 
day's  story!  Here  is  a  young  maa  in  New  York, 
strong  and  vigorous,  only  thirty-two  years  old.  Seven 
years  ago  he  married  a  beautiful  girl,  and  earned  a 
comfortable  living  for  his  wife  and  the  two  babies  that 
were  born  to  them.  But  the  saloon  tempted  him,  and 
as  the  drink  habit  grew  he  became  shiftless,  morose, 
and  quarrelsome.  Finally,  to  save  her  life,  his  wife 
hid  herself  from  him ;  her  mother,  the  grandmother, 
cared  for  the  two  little  children.  One  morning  he 
called;  the  elder  clung  to  the  grandmother  and  would 
not  go  near  him,  but  the  little  baby  girl,  not  know- 
ing enough  to  fear  the  demon  in  him,  ran  to  him  at 
his  request.  He  gathered  her  up  in  his  arms,  say- 
ing that  he  would  carry  her  around  to  the  kindergar- 
ten where  she  attended  school.  Immediately  after 
the  door  closed  behind  them,  two  shots  rang  out. 
The  first  one  the  drunken  father  had  fired  through  the 
head  of  the  trusting  little  girl,  and  then,  permitting 
the  tiny  body  to  roll  down  the  stairs,  he  fired  another 
bullet  through  his  own  brain,  and  fell  dead  in  the  hall. 
The  same  old  story,  you  say,  but  alas !  it  has  new  vic- 
tims every  day!     How  long,  0  Lord,  how  long,  will 


THE  AWFUL  WASTE  OF  SIN.  75 

tke  Christian  churches  of  America  permit  to  exist  an 
institution  which  fills  the  land  with  deeds  like  this? 


THE  COURAGE  TO  REMAIN  BEHIND. 

There  is  something  truly  splendid  and  great  in 
Nansen's  graceful  dedication  of  his  new  book,  "Far- 
thest North, "  to  his  wife :  "  To  her  who  christened 
the  ship  and  had  the  courage  to  remain  behind."  It 
is  always  harder  in  many  ways  for  those  who  remain 
behind  than  for  those  who  go  out  to  the  battle.  It  is 
harder  to  christen  a  ship  and  send  it  forth  on  its  long 
voyage,  trusting  it  to  the  guidance  of  other  hands, 
than  it  is  to  go  with  it  and  share  its  destiny.  This 
has  a  possible  application  for  us  all.  How  often  we 
have  the  opportunity  to  christen  some  good  ship  of 
thought,  or  effort,  and  send  it  out  with  our  "  God 
speed!"  when  duties  that  hold  us  to  the  narrower  rou- 
tine of  our  daily  life  will  not  permit  us  to  share  its 
fortunes.  Let  us  never  selfishly  or  churlishly  refuse 
to  christen  the  ship,  because  it  may  not  be  our  for- 
tune to  go  as  pilot  or  passenger. 

THE  AWFUL  WASTE  OF  SIN. 

A  little  boy  led  a  policeman  to  a  house  which  ap- 
peared at  first  to  be  deserted,  but  at  last  a  little  girl 
appeared  at  the  door  and  said  she  kept  house  for  her 
father  and  two  little  brothers.  She  is  only  ten  years 
old.  "  I  am  all  alone  to-day,"  said  the  child.  "  Papa 
is  drunk  and  has  gone  away,  and  he  has  sold  lots  of 


76  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

the  furniture."  On  examination  it  was  found  that 
the  father  was  only  a  few  years  since  a  well-kuown 
Wall  Street  broker,  and  a  member  of  the  Stock  Ex- 
change. He  married  a  beautiful  girl  out  of  a  splendid 
family,  whose  parents  gave  her  a  present  of  ten  thou- 
sand dollars  on  her  wedding-day.  This  money  and 
all  her  husband's  fortune  has  been  spent  in  the  saloon. 
A  month  ago  she  died,  and  the  husband  has  been 
drunk  nearly  ever  since.  Who  can  compute  the  waste 
that  has  gone  on  in  that  home!  No  wonder  the 
prophet  exclaims :  "  Wherefore  do  ye  spend  money  for 
that  which  is  not  bread,  and  your  labor  for  that  which 
satisfieth  not?" 

THE  ATMOSPHERE  OF  THE  SUNDAY  NEWS- 
PAPER. 

One  of  the  bravest,  as  well  as  one  of  the  wittiest, 
things  that  has  been  done  lately,  was  the  reply  of  the 
Kev.  Dr.  Newman  Smyth,  of  New  Haven,  when  the 
representative  of  one  of  the  worst  of  modern  news- 
papers asked  him  for  "  a  bright,  terse  interview  about 
hell,"  for  its  Sunday  edition.  Dr.  Smyth  very  kindly 
complied  with  the  request ;  his  article  was  as  follows  : 
"  Hell,  in  my  opinion,  is  the  place  where  the  Sunday 
edition  of  your  paper  should  be  published  and  circu- 
lated." 

THE    RELATION    OF    CLEAN    HANDS    TO    SPIRI- 
TUAL  POWER. 

"Who  shall  ascend  into  the  hill  of  the  Lord?  Or 
who    shall    stand  in  his  holy  place?"    inquires  the 


DESTROYING  THE  SIGNAL-LIGHTS.  77 

Psalmist,  and  this  is  his  answer:  "He  that  hath 
clean  hands,  and  a  pure  heart ;  who  hath  not  lifted 
up  his  soul  unto  vanity,  nor  sworn  deceitfully." 
Nothing  could  possibly  bring  about  so  great  an  acces- 
sion of  spiritual  power  to  the  modern  church  as  a 
wholesale  cleansing  of  the  hands  of  its  membership 
from  all  questionable  transactions  in  business  and 
politics.  It  is  a  mockery  for  a  man  whose  hands  are 
thrust  into  ill-gotten  spoils,  either  in  trade  or  political 
rings,  to  ask  God  to  bestow  upon  him  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  If  God  were  to  answer  that  prayer,  it 
would  smite  him  as  dead  as  Ananias  and  Sapphira. 
That  is  a  heart-searching  saying  of  John  Ruskin: 
"  If  the  ghost  that  is  in  you  leaves  your  heart  a  cheat, 
and  your  hand  a  juggler's,  then  be  assured  that,  what- 
ever else  it  is,  it  is  not  a  Holy  Ghost." 

DESTROYING  THE  SIGNAI^LIGHTS. 

The  engineer  of  a  fast  train  on  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad  discovered  a  man,  one  night,  at  the  top  of  a 
signal-pole,  at  an  important  junction  where  three  rail- 
roads crossed.  With  his  fist  he  was  destroying  the 
signal-lamps.  The  poor  fellow  was  insane,  and  was 
doing  it  simply  to  enjoy  the  excitement  that  he  would 
experience  at  witnessing  a  wreck.  One  can  hardly 
help  believing  in  these  days  that  there  are  moral 
teachers  so  reckless,  and  so  intoxicated  with  the  de- 
sire for  notoriety,  that  they  are  willing  to  destroy  the 
signal-lights  on  the  highways  of  life,  in  order  to  make 
a  sensation ;    but  they  will  fail,  as  this  poor  fellow 


78  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

did.  He  was  insane,  and  in  a  way  they  are  too. 
No  man  except  an  insane  man,  or  a  demon,  would 
destroy  the  signal-light  that  has  kept  generations 
from  going  to  disaster  and  ruin,  and  leave  no  warn- 
ing in  its  place.  God  has  put  the  signal-lights  of  dan- 
ger too  surely  in  his  truth  to  have  them  destroyed 
by  reckless  hands.  These  careless  teachers  are  the 
sensation  of  an  hour,  but  the  great  truths  of  God's 
Word  and  of  human  nature  are  eternal  verities  that 
can  not  be  thrust  aside  by  a  sensationalist. 

ICEBERGS  INSTEAD  OF  ISLANDS. 

Mr.  H.  J.  Bull  has  recently  written  a  book  on  ex- 
plorations in  the  Antarctic,  in  which  he  tells  how  the 
ship  one  day  sighted  a  long  island,  flat  on  the  top, 
but  rising  in  one  place  to  a  much  greater  height. 
Sailing  along  at  a  distance,  they  found  that  it  was 
about  fifty  miles  in  length.  As  no  land  in  that  posi- 
tion was  marked  on  the  charts,  the  captain  drew  nearer 
and  called  all  hands  on  deck  to  celebrate  the  discovery 
of  an  important  island.  The  new  land  was  christened 
Svend  Foyn,  in  honor  of  the  famous  Norwegian  whaler 
of  that  name,  but  as  they  drew  nearer  still  they  were 
bitterly  disappointed  to  find  that  the  new  island, 
which  they  had  hoped  might  yield  much  comfort  and 
profit,  was  merely  a  floating  iceberg  of  enormous  di- 
mensions. Its  dirty  gray  color,  given  it  by  the  sifting 
ashes  of  a  volcano,  was  responsible  for  their  mistake. 
We  sometimes  see  churches  that  remind  us  of  that 
iceberg.     They  make  large  pretensions  and  are  the 


FACING  SHIPWRECK.  79 

theater  of  a  good  deal  of  brilliance  in  intellect  and 
music  and  display,  and  if  viewed  from  a  distance 
sufficiently  remote  appear  to  be  an  island  of  Christian 
fertility  and  comfort.  But  when  a  wayfaring  soul 
draws  near  he  finds  that  it  is  only  an  iceberg  after  all, 
and  yields  no  fruits  of  Christian  kindness  and  mercy. 

FAQNG  SHIPWRECK. 

No  one  who  has  never  been  through  such  an  experi- 
ence can  appreciate  the  joy  of  the  twenty-seven  sea- 
men on  the  British  ship  Androsa  when  they  beheld 
the  steamship  Ontario  answering  their  flag  of  distress, 
and  drawing  near  with  evident  purpose  to  save  them. 
They  were  in  danger  of  immediate  destruction.  They 
had  been  in  an  awful  storm  for  many  days.  The  bul- 
warks were  swept  clean  away.  The  chain-plates  were 
torn  of£  andf  the  topmasts  were  gone.  The  vessel  was 
unmanageable,  and  her  starboard  side  was  down  in 
the  water  as  far  as  the  hatches.  The  vessel  sprang 
aleak,  and  the  men  worked  at  the  pumps  until  it  was 
evidently  hopeless.  No  wonder,  when  the  steamship 
bore  down  upon  them,  weatherbeaten  sailors  cried 
for  joy.  How  many  poor  sinners  there  are  whose 
ship  of  character  has  been  swept  by  storm,  whose 
masts  and  sails  are  gone,  and  whose  leaky  hull  is  sure 
to  founder  unless  divine  help  shall  soon  come!  To 
all  such,  Christ,  the  mighty  Savior,  offers  a  sure  sal- 
vation. If  they  will  only  turn  from  their  own  worth- 
less pumps  and  climb  into  the  life-boat,  they  shall 
find  safety  and  peace. 


80  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

DIAMONDS  AMONG  THE  RUBBISH. 

A  gentleman  from  New  York  lost  a  valuable  dia- 
mond from  his  ring  at  the  station  of  the  New  York 
Central  Railroad  in  Poughkeepsie.  He  was  on  his 
way  to  Saratoga  and  waited  until  the  train  was  mov- 
ing before  attempting  to  get  aboard.  He  missed  his 
footing  and  was  dragged  some  distance.  On  the  train 
he  discovered  that  the  diamond  was  missing.  He 
offered  a  reward  for  its  recovery,  but  after  two  or 
three  days  had  passed  it  was  given  up  as  lost.  A 
short  time  afterward  the  baggage-man  saw  something 
glistening  among  the  cinders  on  the  track.  It  proved 
to  be  the  missing  diamond,  and  it  was  returned  to  the 
owner.  The  Bible  is  full  of  the  advertisements  of 
heaven's  lost  diamonds.  Never  were  such  rich  re- 
wards offered  for  the  rescue  of  lost  treasures  as  are 
offered  there.  And  our  streets  are  full  of  these  lost 
jewels.  No  earnest  seeker  shall  fail  of  making  a  find, 
or  obtaining  a  rich  reward. 

SELF-MASTERY. 

The  great  heart  of  the  American  people  throbbed  in 
sympathy  with  General  Gomez,  the  Cuban  leader, 
when  the  news  came  over  the  wires  that  he  had  re- 
fused to  receive  the  peace  commissioners  of  General 
Weyler,  who  came  to  offer  autonomy  to  Cuba  if  the 
Cubans  would  lay  down  their  arms.  General  Gomez 
replied  that  the  sole  conditions  of  surrender  were  lib- 
erty and  independence.     This  reply  reminds  us  of 


AGITATION  THE  PRICE  OF  PROGRESS.       81 

Gladstone's  strong  utterance  in  the  English  Parlia- 
ment when  pleading  for  "  Home  Rule"  for  Ireland. 
He  said :  "  It  is  not  your  good  laws,  but  their  own 
good  laws,  which  the  Irish  want."  The  right  and 
the  power  to  govern  one's  self  is  the  most  godlike  ever 
conferred  upon  man.  No  man  can  but  be  miserable 
when  he  desires  to  do  good,  and  yet  does  evil  because 
his  will  has  been  palsied  or  overborne  by  sin.  That 
was  a  great  saying  of  Solomon :  "  He  that  is  slow  to 
anger  is  better  than  the  mighty ;  and  he  that  ruleth 
his  spirit  than  he  that  taketh  a  city." 

AGITATION  THE  PRICE  OF  PROGRESS. 

Representatives  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  the 
city  of  Cleveland,  Ohio,  in  public  addresses  decried 
very  earnestly  labor  agitation  as  a  great  source  of  loss 
and  dange/to  the  prosperity  of  the  community.  Of 
course  there  are  unwise  agitators  who  do  the  cause  of 
the  workingmen  more  harm  than  good ;  but,  after  all, 
freedom  of  speech  and  freedom  of  press  for  airing  any 
wrong  that  exists  in  the  community  are  the  greatest 
possible  safety-valve  of  the  Republic.  Wrongs  are 
never  righted  except  by  agitation.  Every  step  taken 
in  advance  is  at  the  cost  of  agitation  and  annoyance 
to  many  people.  The  logic  of  this  situation  was  illus- 
trated one  morning  by  two  little  children.  One  little 
fellow  was  crying  in  his  crib  for  his  nurse  to  come 
and  dress  him.  The  other,  a  little  older,  went  to 
comfort  him,  and,  instead  of  asking  him  to  stop,  said : 
"Keep  on  crying,  Sherlock."  When  his  mother 
6 


82  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

asked  him  why  he  had  told  the  baby  to  keep  on  cry- 
ing, he  replied:  "Why,  nurse  won't  come  if  he 
stops."  That  is  the  true  logic  of  all  agitation  which 
makes  for  righteousness.  Eternal  agitation  is  the 
price  of  liberty  yet  to  be  attained. 

HOW  TO  KEEP  CLEAN. 

Pormer  Commissioner  Waring,  of  the  street-clean- 
ing department  in  New  York  City,  in  an  article  con- 
taining the  history  of  the  revolution  which  gave  New 
York  clean  streets,  relates  that  when  he  put  white  uni- 
forms on  the  street-cleaning  brigade  he  answered  the 
ridicule  that  was  heaped  upon  him  for  dressing  men 
in  white  to  do  such  dirty  work  by  saying  that  they 
would  keep  the  streets  so  clean  that  the  imiforms 
would  not  be  soiled ;  and  he  had  wonderful  success 
in  the  attempt.  Here  is  a  suggestion  for  Chris- 
tian men  who  hesitate  to  do  their  duty  as  citizens, 
and  become  factors  in  political  life,  because  of  the 
proverbial  corruption  and  filth  of  politics.  The 
straightforward,  genuine  Christian  man  can  keep  his 
hands  as  clean  in  politics  as  anywhere  else,  and  it  is 
the  duty  of  Christian  men  to  take  hold  of  the  political 
life  of  our  time,  and  make  it  so  clean  that  the  white 
uniform  of  honest  public  service  can  go  anywhere  un- 
spotted. 

IS  THE  PILOT  ON  BOARD? 

The  unique  title  of  a  successful  book  is,  "  The  Port 
of    Missing   Ships."     One's   fancy   may   take   wide 


LACK  OF  SIMPLICITY  IN  PRAYER.        83 

sweeps  if  allowed  to  run  on  that  title.  There  are  a 
great  many  human  ships  which  never  reach  any  safe 
port  for  lack  of  proper  purpose  and  guidance.  The 
little  ship  that  carried  the  disciples  in  the  midnight 
storm  of  long  ago  came  speedily  to  land  when  Jesus 
came  on  board  and  took  command.  The  great  Pilot 
stands  outside  the  pilot-house  of  every  drifting,  storm- 
tossed  human  ship,  and  says :  "  Behold,  I  stand  at 
the  door  and  knock."  Blessed  are  they  that  heed 
that  voice. 

LACK  OF  SIMPLiaTY  IN  PRAYER. 

Few  people  have  any  idea  of  the  curious  things  that 
find  their  way  into  the  United  States  mail,  and  finally 
bring  up  in  the  Dead-Letter  Office  in  Washington — 
such  things  as  rattlesnakes,  skulls,  Indian  scalps, 
tarantulas,  revolvers,  false  teeth^  bombs,  bottles  of 
liquor,  inflammable  oils  and  poisons,  and  innumerable 
other  things  that  are  unmailable.  Many  people  who 
make  public  prayer  seem  to  have  as  erroneous  an  idea 
of  the  object  of  prayer  as  the  people  who  send  these 
things  have  of  the  proprieties  of  the  United  States 
Post  Office  Department.  How  often  in  the  prayer- 
meeting  we  hear  a  man  pretending  to  address  the  Al- 
mighty, while  he  is  in  fact  trying  to  explode  a  bomb 
for  the  special  discomfort  of  his  neighbor  a  few  pews 
away!  Others  drag  into  their  prayers  all  sorts  of  in- 
formation, which  they  impose  on  the  Lord  and  those 
who  are  listening.  Keal  prayer  is  something  very 
different.  It  is  the  earnest  cry  of  the  soul  clearly 
directed,  and  never  goes  to  the  dead-letter  office.     A 


84  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

good  many  churches  would  stand  a  better  chance  for 
a  revival  if  a  stop  could  be  put  to  the  dead-letter 
prayers. 

HONESTY  ITS  OWN  COLLECTOR. 
A  New  England  merchant  visited  New  York  on  a 
rather  unusual  mission.  Nine  years  ago  this  gentle- 
man failed  in  business  and  was  compelled  to  allow  his 
accounts  to  be  settled  up  at  fifty  cents  on  the  dollar. 
He  was  entirely  freed  from  any  legal  obligation  to  his 
old  creditors  by  this  settlement.  He  set  himself  to 
work  again,  however,  with  a  brave  heart,  and,  having 
prospered  in  business,  he  came  to  New  York  with  his 
note-book,  in  which  were  entered  sundry  amounts,  and 
the  names  of  a  score  or  more  of  old  New  York  whole- 
sale and  manufacturing  firms.  He  went  from  one  to 
another,  and  paid  dollar  for  dollar  all  the  old  debts 
that  had  been  written  in  the  profit-and-loss  account 
long  ago.  Such  a  man  is  not  under  the  law  but  under 
grace.  He  is  not  honest  because  he  fears  the  punish- 
ment of  law,  but  because  of  the  inner  promptings  of 
the  soul.  He  has  a  law  written  in  the  tablets  of  his 
heart  more  imperative  than  the  law  on  the  statute- 
books.  The  latter  may  hold  him  free  of  debt,  but 
the  inner  law  still  collects  the  unforgotten  obligation. 
The  millennium  will  have  come  when  the  inner  law  is 
supreme  in  the  hearts  of  mankind. 

A  HEART  FULL  OF  TRAMPS. 
A  certain  community  on  Long  Island  was  greatly 
annoyed  by  a  band  of  tramps,  who  pillaged  the  farm- 
houses and  defied  the  authorities  to  punish  them. 


LOSING  ONE'S  RECKONING.  86 

These  lawless  men  made  their  headquarters  in  an 
empty  barn,  where  they  brought  their  plunder  and 
enjoyed  their  hideous  revels.  A  sinful  heart  is  in 
much  the  condition  of  that  barn.  The  heart  naturally 
belongs  to  God,  and  ought  to  be  the  treasure-house  of 
good  thoughts  and  holy  purposes,  and  sweet  and  happy 
musings.  But  evil  lusts  and  appatites  and  sins,  like 
vagrant  tramps,  invade  the  heart  and  make  it  their 
den  of  debauch.  They  go  out  through  the  eyes  and 
the  ears  of  their  miserable  victim  and  bring  back 
plunder  on  which  to  revel.  Jesus  Christ  is  able  to 
dispossess  these  enemies  and  garrison  the  rescued  soul 
with  angelic  soldiery. 

A  SOUL  ON  FIRE, 

The  citizens  of  a  portion  of  Wiiksebarre,  Pa.,  were 
at  one  time  greatly  alarmed  at  an  explosion  in  one  of 
the  coal-mines.  People  ran  from  their  homes  in  con- 
fusion. It  was  soon  found  that  one  of  the  great  coal- 
mines— fully  forty  acres  of  coal — was  on  fire  and 
liable  to  burn  on  for  a  long  time,  destroying  great 
wealth.  The  incident  suggests  the  danger  of  having 
combustible  appetites  and  passions  and  lusts  hidden 
in  the  deep  heart-chambers  of  one's  soul,  where  some 
sudden  temptation  may  ignite  this  hidden  tinder  and 
set  the  soul  ''on  fire  of  hell." 

THE  DANGER  OF  LOSING  ONE'S  RECKONING. 

The  excuse  given  by  the  captain  of  the  steamship 
Saginaw  for  going  ashore  is  very  suggestive.  He 
says  that  for  several  days  the  fog  was  so  bad  he  could 


86  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

not  see  the  sun,  and  he  lost  his  reckoning.  How 
many  there  are  on  the  broader  sea  of  human  life  who 
lose  their  reckoning  in  the  fog  and  are  hopelessly  cast 
ashore !  Thank  God,  there  is  a  Pilot  who  never  yet 
has  lost  his  reckoning  and  who  is  always  to  be  had 
by  a  perplexed  soul !  He  came  to  the  disciples  in  the 
midst  of  the  storm  at  night,  long  ago,  and  immediately 
brought  them  into  quiet  and  peace.  On  every  storm- 
swept  deck,  or  fog-bound  ship,  the  prayerful  sailor 
may  yet  hear  that  strong  but  tender  voice  saying : 
*'  Lo !  it  is  I,  be  not  afraid. " 

KEEPING  IN  TUNE. 

Few  people  who  listen  to  a  great  singer  have  any 
conception  of  the  exacting  regimen  popular  singers 
are  compelled  to  follow.  Melba  never  allows  herself 
to  eat  any  sweets,  altho  she  is  very  fond  of  them, 
and  many  articles  of  food  which  would  be  pleasing  to 
her  she  nevertheless  denies  herself  because  of  their 
hurtful  effects  on  her  voice.  One  of  the  sweetest 
singers  of  Germany  lost  her  voice  thro  inhaling 
tobacco-smoke  in  a  restaurant  where  she  went  with 
her  husband  in  the  evening  after  the  concerts.  This 
necessary  care,  in  order  to  keep  the  voice  in  tune, 
suggests  the  still  greater  necessity  of  watchfulness  in 
keeping  the  heart  and  soul  in  harmony.  The  human 
soul  is  like  a  most  delicate  musical  instrument,  and 
can  not  be  kept  attuned  so  as  to  give  forth  the  sounds 
of  love  and  hope  and  faith  unless  guarded  from  evil 
influences.     As  the  kind  of  food  a  singer  eats,  or  the 


MAKING  OUR  GOOD  DEEDS  ATTRACTIVE.      87 

atmosphere  she  breathes,  tells  for  good  or  ill  upon  her 
voice,  so  the  books  and  newspapers  we  read,  the  con- 
versation in  which  we  indulge,  and  the  thoughts  and 
meditations  we  permit,  have  to  do  with  the  harmony 
or  discord  of  the  soul. 

MAKING  OUR  GOOD  DEEDS  ATTRACTIVE. 

A  Chicago  paper  gave  an  account  of  the  excitement 
occasioned  by  an  undertaker's  wagon  driving  up  to 
the  rear  of  a  house  in  that  city  and  taking  on  board 
a  load  of  something.  The  neighbors  were  at  once 
greatly  aroused.  In  the  flurry,  somebody  turned  in 
an  alarm  at  the  nearest  patrol-box,  and  pretty  soon  a 
patrol-wagon,  loaded  with  policemen,  came  tearing 
down  the  alley,  on  the  lookout  for  the  supposed  mur- 
derer. The  matter  was  finally  explained  in  a  very 
simple  way.  The  owner  of  the  house  in  question  is 
interested  -in  a  farm,  and  brings  his  share  of  produce 
into  the  town.  His  stock  of  potatoes  being  altogether 
more  than  he  could  consume,  he  told  several  of  his 
friends  to  come  around  and  help  themselves  to  as 
many  bushels  as  they  wanted.  One  of  his  friends 
was  an  undertaker,  and  he  sent  his  professional  wagon ; 
hence  the  terror  of  the  neighbors.  There  are  a  great 
many  people  who  do  things  that  are  good  in  them- 
selves, but  who  cause  alarm  and  sorrow  because  they 
perform  their  duties  in  such  a  funereal  way.  Paul 
says  we  ought  to  show  mercy  with  cheerfulness ;  but 
many  people  show  mercy  in  a  way  to  make  the  recipi- 
ent feel  like  thrashing  the  would-be  philanthropist. 
We  do  well  to  remember  that  the  spirit  in  which 


88  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

things  are  done  is  often  more  important  than  the  deed 
itself.  It  is  not  more  inappropriate  to  haul  potatoes 
in  an  undertaker's  wagon  than  it  is  to  do  a  good  deed 
in  a  gloomy  and  pessimistic  spirit. 

THE  GROWTH  OF  KINDNESS  AMONG  MEN. 

A  black  cat  held  up  the  trolley-roads  running 
through  Fulton  Street,  Brooklyn,  for  nearly  half  an 
hour  one  evening.  In  some  way  the  eat  had  made  its 
way  to  the  flat  wooden  guard-box  that  runs  along 
under  the  elevated  railroad  tracks,  just  above  the 
trolley  wires.  The  cat  did  not  mean  to  interfere  with 
the  passage  of  the  cars  in  any  way.  It  first  attracted 
attention  by  piteous  cries  of  terror  every  time  a  trol- 
ley-car passed  under  it.  The  cries  attracted  the  at- 
tention of  people  in  the  cars  and  on  the  sidewalk,  and 
they  protested  against  what  seemed  to  be  the  torture 
of  the  cat.  The  repair  wagon  was  finally  summoned 
by  telephone,  and  the  cat  rescued  from  her  dangerous 
position  amid  the  cheers  of  hundreds  of  people.  It 
surely  was  a  very  significant  thing  that  two  hundred 
cars  stood  idle,  and  thousands  of  people  waited  at  the 
busiest  time  of  the  day,  to  rescue  a  cat.  There  are 
parts  of  the  earth  where  it  would  not  have  been  done 
for  a  child,  or  a  man,  or  a  woman.  Slowly  but  surely 
the  kindness  of  Jesus  Christ  is  conquering  the  brute 
and  the  savage  in  the  heart  of  mankind. 

THE  TATTOOED  CHARACTER. 

An  English  magazine  has  published  a  very  striking 
and  interesting  article  on  the  strange  fashion  in  some 


A  LITTLE  CHILD  SHALL  LEAD  THEM.        89 

circles,  even  among  vei-y  well-to-do  persons,  of  tattoo- 
ing the  body.  Instances  are  given  of  famous  paint- 
ings being  tattooed  on  the  backs  of  persons.  Some 
people  pay  large  sums  of  money  to  have  strange  and 
uniqufc  pictures  tattooed  on  their  bodies,  until  every 
inch  of  their  forms  is  covered  with  this  evidence  of 
silly  and  absurd  barbarism.  But  silly  as  that  is,  it  is 
innocent  when  compared  to  the  horrible  tattooing  of 
the  moral  nature  which  some  men  and  women  acquire 
at  such  a  fearful  cost.  Some  who  take  the  greatest 
care  of  their  bodies  would  blush  with  shame  if  their 
tattooed  characters  were  exhibited  to  the  public  gaze. 
It  is  worse  yet  when  they  have  become  so  hardened  in 
iniquity  that  they  are  not  ashamed,  but  flaunt  the 
marks  of  their  degradation  before  the  eyes  of  their 
fellows. 

A  LITTLE  CHILD  SHALL  LEAD  THEM. 

A  most  touchiiig  sight  was  witnessed  at  Ellis  Island, 
when  a  Swiss  hatter  and  his  child  arrived  from 
France,  and  were  detained  on  a  complaint  lodged  by 
the  man's  wife,  who  had  come  to  this  country  two 
years  ago.  There  had  been  a  cruel  misunderstanding 
between  herself  and  her  husband,  and  in  their  es- 
trangement she  had  obtained  a  legal  separation  and 
come  away,  and  now  sought  to  obtain  the  custody  of 
her  child.  The  wise  and  kind-hearted  commissioner 
of  immigration  brought  the  estranged  parents  together 
in  one  of  his  rooms,  and  the  little  girl,  who  had  not 
seen  her  mother  for  two  years,  threw  herself  into  her 


90  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

arms,  crying :  "  Mama,  you  mustn't  go  away  any 
more,  but  must  come  and  live  with  papa  and  me." 
Both  parents  were  visibly  affected  by  this  childish 
appeal  for  a  reconciliation,  and  the  commissioner,  be- 
lieving that  the  parents  should  be  reunited,  if  only 
for  the  sake  of  the  child,  urged  them  to  mutual  for- 
giveness. His  appeals,  reinforced  by  those  of  the 
little  girl,  were  successful,  and  they  concluded  to 
bury  the  past,  and  a  clergyman  was  called  to  reunite 
them  in  marriage,  and  the  little  girl  led  them  away 
to  a  new  life  on  American  soil.  It  was  a  new  fulfil- 
ment of  the  old  prophecy  which  says :  "  A  little  child 
shall  lead  them." 


CAUGHT  IN  THE  QUAGMIRE. 

A  young  man  slightly  under  the  influence  of  liquor 
strayed  into  a  quagmire  on  the  outskirts  of  Jersey 
City  and  came  very  near  losing  his  life.  He  wandered 
into  the  place  and  fell  asleep.  After  a  while  he  awoke 
to  the  fact  that  he  was  slowly  sinking  to  death  in  the 
mud  of  the  swamp.  The  first  sensation  was  that  his 
legs  were  freezing.  He  tried  to  walk,  but  his  feet 
were  deep  in  the  mud.  He  couldn't  take  a  step.  He 
began  to  struggle  violently  in  the  effort  to  extricate 
himself,  and  succeeded  in  raising  one  foot  a  few 
inches.  But  the  other  one  had  sunk  lower,  and  when 
he  paused  to  rest  he  found  that  the  water  had  risen 
up  to  his  chest.  Suddenly  the  fearful  peril  of  his 
position  dawned  on  him.  He  was  gradually  but  surely 
sinking  in  the  mud.     The  fumes  of  the  liquor  fled 


THE  PERILS  OF  A  DRIFTING  SOUL.         01 

from  his  brain,  and  cold  beads  of  perspiration  started 
out  on  his  brow.  He  tried  to  draw  himself  out  by 
throwing  himself  flat.  But  the  clinging  mud  now  held 
him  by  the  hips.  He  yelled  at  the  top  of  his  voice 
and  shrieked  for  help  until  he  was  exhausted.  Stead- 
ily the  water  rose  to  his  armpits,  then  to  his  shoul- 
ders, and  the  cold  ring  encircled  his  neck,  and  he  had 
uttered  his  last  moan  of  despair,  when  he  was  over- 
heard by  a  policeman  and  rescued  from  an  awful  death. 
That  living  death  is  a  true  picture  of  the  way  men 
sink  into  the  quagmire  of  sin.  At  first  they  are  in- 
toxicated with  its  pleasures,  then  they  are  asleep  to 
their  danger,  and  when  they  are  finally  aroused  to 
their  awful  peril  it  is  too  late  for  them  to  help  them- 
selves. The  only  hope  of  the  poor  sinner  is  in  Jesus 
Christ,  who  is  able  to  take  him  out  of  the  quagmire 
and  to  place  his  feet  on  the  solid  rock. 

THE  PERILS  OF  A  DRIFTING  SOUL. 

The  British  steamship  Beechdene,  on  a  voyage  from 
Hamburg  and  Newcastle,  was  caught  in  a  field  of  ice, 
and  for  many  days  was  in  great  danger.  The  cakes 
of  ice  were  thick  and  some  as  large  as  the  vessel. 
There  was  no  chance  for  turning  around  or  backing, 
and  little  for  going  ahead.  On  every  side  the  ice- 
cakes  crashed  together,  piled  themselves,  and  crunched 
against  the  vessel's  sides,  grinding  and  creaking  and 
pressing  hard  the  plates.  Held  in  this  icy  grip, 
the  vessel  drifted  far  out  of  her  course,  and,  tho  she 
finally  escaped  from  the  cold  embrace  of  the  ice-field, 


92  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

she  was  many  days  late  in  reaching  port.  A  drifting 
ship  is  always  in  danger,  and  so  is  a  drifting  soul.  A 
ship  is  never  so  safe  as  when  by  compass  and  chart 
she  is  steered  through  open  water  along  her  proper 
track  to  her  accustomed  haven.  A  soul  is  never  safe 
unless  guided  in  harmony  with  God's  will  along  the 
path  of  duty,  toward  the  harbor  of  heaven.  The 
drifting  soul  is  in  constant  peril  of  awful  shipwreck. 

THE  FOULING  OF  THE  PUBLIC  MIND. 

During  a  great  northeast  storm,  the  south  Jersey 
coast  was  deluged  with  the  rubbish  and  offal  of  New 
York  City.  Half -decayed  fruit  and  refuse  of  every 
kind  filled  the  air  with  the  most  noxious  odors.  In 
an  intellectual  and  moral  way,  that  is  what  some  of 
our  daily  newspapers  are  doing  every  day.  Nothing 
is  too  dirty  or  revolting  for  them  to  spread  to  the 
wind,  until  the  very  air  is  reeking  with  the  bad  smells 
that  come  from  the  mouth  of  the  pit. 

A  VOLCANIC  HEART, 

Professor  Friedlander,  a  German  scientist,  who  has 
made  a  study  of  the  islands  of  the  Pacific,  has  returned 
from  Hawaii,  where  he  spent  several  weeks  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  crater  of  Kilauea.  From  his  observa- 
tions there  he  predicts  that  a  great  volcanic  eruption 
on  Hawaii  is  close  at  hand.  These  eruptions  are  ex- 
ceedingly dangerous  and  destructive.  Without  warn- 
ing, usually,  a  stream  of  lava  breaks  through  the  side 


THE  VALVE  OF  ADAPTABILITY.  93 

of  the  mountain  and  flows  down  upon  the  fertile  val- 
leys, carrying  death  and  destruction  with  it.  Hun- 
dreds of  settlers  on  coffee  plantations  around  the  base 
of  the  mountain  are  fearful  of  an  eruption  in  the  near 
future  that  will  wipe  out  many  plantations  and  homes. 
A  volcano  is  a  treacherous  neighbor.  It  sometimes 
sleeps,  but  it  is  likely  to  wake  at  any  time  with  death 
in  its  hand.  A  sinful  heart  is  like  that :  it  may  be 
covered  over  with  vineyards  and  orchards  and  flowers 
of  cultured  and  civilized  manners,  but  so  long  as  the 
fires  of  sin  burn  deep  in  the  thoughts  and  imagina- 
tions of  the  heart,  there  is  likely  to  be  an  eruption  at 
any  time  that  will  lay  waste  the  fair  and  beautiful 
life.  The  fires  of  sin  may  be  drowned  out  forever  by 
the  forgiving  and  transforming  mercy  of  Jesus. 

THE  VALUE  OF  ADAPTABILITY. 

Great  talents  often  fail  of  achieving  success  through 
lack  of  tact  and  adaptation.  To  study  to  know  how 
to  adapt  one's  self  to  the  situation  at  hand,  so  as  to 
make  all  one's  powers  count  for  a  good  purpose,  is  the 
duty  of  everybody. 

An  observer  saw  a  black  snake  try  to  capture  a  lizard 
for  its  dinner.  The  lizard  had  the  better  of  the  snake 
in  the  contest,  which  took  place  in  a  cluster  of  sap- 
lings. The  lizard  would  run  up  a  sapling  clear  to  the 
top,  and  patiently  wait  until  the  snake  would  slowly 
wind' its  way  about  half-way  up  the  sapling,  when 
the  lizard  would  jump  from  the  top  of  the  tree  to 
the  ground,  and  the  snake  would  fling  ItseK  from  the 


94  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

tree,  both  striking  the  ground  about  the  same  time; 
but  before  the  snake  could  get  itself  straightened  out, 
the  lizard,  which  did  not  have  to  uncoil,  would  scale 
up  another  sapling,  when  the  snake  would  repeat  its 
efforts  to  procure  the  dinner.  The  snake,  not  being 
the  ready  climber  that  the  lizard  was,  was  at  a  great 
disadvantage  in  the  contest,  and,  after  many  efforts, 
apparently  gave  it  up  as  a  fruitless  job. 


"UNCTUOUS  RECTITUDE/' 

This  very  striking  phrase,  uttered  by  Mr.  Cecil 
Rhodes,  the  African  millionaire  and  adventurer,  in 
regard  to  the  people  who  were  condemning  him  for 
his  part  in  the  Jameson  Raid,  has  been  widely 
quoted  and  commented  upon.  It  suggests  the  parable 
of  the  Pharisee  and  the  publican  who  went  up  to  the 
temple  to  pray :  "  The  Pharisee  stood  and  prayed  thus 
with  himself:  God,  I  thank  thee,  that  I  am  not  as 
other  men  are,  extortioners,  unjust,  adulterers,  or  even 
as  this  publican.  I  fast  twice  in  the  week,  I  give 
tithes  of  all  that  I  possess  "  (Luke  xviii.  11,  12). 


PERSEVERANCE. 

It  was  a  bitterly  cold  night  about  the  year  1840. 
Around  the  cracked,  unpolished  kitchen  stove  of  one 
of  Boston's  humblest  homes  were  huddled  a  man,  his 
wife,  and  family.  The  surroundings  were  of  the 
plainest  possible.     Of  furniture  there  was  scarcely  a 


PERSEVERANCE.  95 

piece  that  would  bring  anything  at  a  pawn-shop,  but 
of  evidence  of  squalor  and  want  there  was  abundance. 
Part  of  the  two  remaining  chairs  had  just  been  broken 
up  to  keep  the  fire  from  dying  out,  and  as  the  flame 
crackled  with  renewed  life  the  man  picked  up  from 
the  floor  a  dark-looking  substance  and  gazed  at  it  with 
a  longing  that  was  pathetic.  He  held  it  up  and 
studied  it  with  many  a  sigh  that  cut  the  heart  of  his 
faithful  wife  and  his  loyal  children.  In  changing 
this  substance  from  one  hand  to  the  other,  it  dropped 
upon  the  hot  stove.  There  was  a  sudden  filling  of 
the  room  with  a  pungent,  offensive  odor  before  the 
man,  with  a  startled  cry,  could  snatch  the  now  half- 
scorched  substance  from  the  stove.  But  there  was  a 
marked  change  on  the  man's  face  as  he  examined  the 
burned  spots.  He  felt  the  substance  with  a  new  and 
intense  interest.  Was  he  near  the  end  of  years  of 
labor,  suffering,  and  disappointment?  Thanks  to  the 
cold  outside,  it  did  not  take  long  to  decide.  The 
burned  substance  was  hung  outside  the  door.  In  an 
hour  the  cold  had  not  affected  it.  In  two  hours  it 
still  retained  the  properties  most  desired.  In  the 
morning  no  change  had  taken  place.  A  great  discov- 
ery was  complete.  Charles  Goodyear  had  found  the 
process  of  making  vulcanized  rubber.  Success  that 
is  worth  having  always  comes  hard.  It  requires  de- 
votion, fidelity  to  purpose,  perseverance  to  the  end. 
A  mushroom  will  grow  in  a  night,  but  it  takes  half  a 
thousand  years  to  grow  an  oak-tree.  Great  achieve- 
ments are  largely  and  commonly  the  prizes  won  by 
great  perseverance. 


96  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

LET  NOTHING  BE  LOST. 

Modern  science  is  finding  wealth  where  once  there 
was  only  waste.  A  company  has  been  organized  with 
fifty  million  dollars  of  capital  to  put  in  operation  a 
new  invention  which  makes  it  possible  to  manufacture 
car-wheels,  basins,  barrels,  and  other  ^^essels  now 
made  of  iron,  wood,  or  paper,  and  also  board  and 
other  building  materials,  from  the  pith  of  cornstalks. 
This  pith,  which  is  called  cellulose,  is  also  to  be  pre- 
pared for  use  in  the  construction  of  warships,  for  fill- 
ing in  between  the  inside  and  outside  armor  of  iron- 
clads. This  invention  is  suggestive  of  the  law  of 
economy  that  runs  throughout  the  universe.  There 
is  abundance  everywhere,  but  nothing  meant  for  waste. 
What  a  transformation  would  be  produced  if  all  the 
dormant  strength  and  ability  in  our  Christian  churches 
could  be  economically  used  for  the  salvation  of  the 
world !  The  most  wicked  waste  of  all  is  the  waste  of 
moral  and  spiritual  force. 

EVIL  [COMMUNICATIONS  CORRUPT   GOOD 
MANNERS. 

With  the  doing  away  with  horses  for  use  in  street- 
car transportation,  and  the  widespread  use  of  the 
bicycle,  the  bands  of  horses  in  the  Southwest  are  be- 
coming valueless,  and  great  droves  of  wild  horses  are 
getting  to  be  numerous.  They  are  troublesome,  as 
they  lead  away  the  horses  belonging  to  the  cattle-men 
and  farmers,  and  when  a  domesticated  horse  once  gets 


DESPAIR  OF  SORROW  WITHOUT  CHRIST.     97 

with  a  wild  drove  it  sometimes  takes  several  days  to 
catch  him.  The  gentlest  family  horse,  after  associ- 
ating for  a  few  days  with  these  mustangs,  seems  to 
forget  his  raising;  all  the  old-time  wildness  of  his 
forefathers  seems  to  crop  out  in  him,  and  altho  for- 
merly he  may  have  allowed  himself  to  be  caught 
anywhere,  he  will  not  then  permit  a  man  to  get  within 
half  a  mile  of  him.  We  have  in  these  horses  an  illus- 
tration of  the  effect  of  bad  company.  No  youth  or 
adult  Christian  can  afford  to  put  himself  unnecessarily 
in  the  midst  of  evil  associations.  Just  as  a  well  man 
would  be  reckless  to  willingly  remain  where  he  must 
breathe  foul  gases,  so  a  Christian  is  presumptuous 
who  prays,  "  Lead  me  not  into  temptation, "  and 
then  deliberately  seeks  companionship  where  he  must 
breathe  a  poisonous  moral  atmosphere. 

THE  DESPAIR  OF  SORROW  WITHOUT  CHRIST. 

One  of  the  saddest  of  stories  is  told  concerning  the 
death  of  an  old  hermit  who  had  for  many  years  lived 
a  life  of  great  loneliness  and  sorrow.  In  his  youth 
he  was  a  very  bright  young  man  and  a  brilliant  law- 
yer, but  through  the  tragic  death  of  his  brother  and 
sister  in  an  accident  he  became  heartbroken  and  shut 
himself  up  in  a  lonely  farmhouse.  He  had  great 
wealth,  but  sought  none  of  the  pleasures  or  comforts 
that  it  might  have  brought  to  him.  The  old  house 
fell  into  decay  about  him,  but  in  the  midst  of  the  dirt 
and  rubbish  he  miserably  existed  until  death  came. 
The  only  physician  who  can  really  heal  the  great 
7 


98  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

sorrows  of  the  soul  in  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  a  world 
full  of  heartache,  and  more  than  anything  else  it 
needs  the  hope  and  good  cheer  of  the  Gospel. 

THE  IDOLATRY  OF  FORCE. 

In  Yezo  Island,  the  natives  put  skulls  of  bears  they 
have  slain  on  the  tops  of  poles  set  in  front  of  their 
huts,  and  worship  them.  Alas!  recent  events,  both 
at  home  and  abroad,  indicate  to  us  that  this  idolatry 
of  brute  force  is  still  widely  common  in  nations  call- 
ing themselves  Christian. 

WHY  NOT  A  FATHERS'  CONGRESS? 

There  has  been  held  in  the  city  of  Washington  one 
of  the  most  successful  congresses  among  all  the  series 
of  such  meetings  in  recent  years,  known  as  "  The 
Mothers'  Congress."  So  great  was  the  enthusiasm 
and  so  wide  the  interest  in  it,  that  it  was  impossible 
to  find  a  building  in  Washington  large  enough  to  hold 
the  people  who  desired  to  attend  its  sessions.  This 
is  all  very  well,  but  would  it  not  be  a  good  thing  to 
have  a  Fathers'  Congress?  It  would  certainly  be  a 
very  novel  occurrence  for  a  thousand  fathers  to  gather 
together,  as  such,  from  different  parts  of  the  country 
and  talk  about  the  duties,  privileges,  and  responsibil- 
ities of  being  a  father.  But  there  certainly  is  great 
need  of  emphasis  on  the  responsibility  of  fatherhood. 
It  is  not  fair  to  leave  the  bringing  up  of  children  to 
the  mother  alone.  I  repeat  it,  "  Why  not  a  Fathers' 
Congress?" 


A  SLEEPING  WATCHMAN.  99 

THE  THIRST  OF  JESUS. 

Archbishop  Corrigan  aroused  a  good  deal  of  in- 
terest among  Catholics  by  embodying  the  following 
temperance  paragraph  in  his  Lenten  circular:  "A 
most  useful  and  commendable  custom  is  that  of  ab- 
staining during  Lent  from  stimulants,  in  honor  of  the 
sacred  thirst  of  our  divine  Savior."  In  connection 
with  the  abstinence  from  intoxicating  drink  during 
Lent,  as  recommended  by  the  Archbishop,  half  a  mil- 
lion "  I  Thirst "  cards  have  been  issued  as  pledges  to 
be  distributed  among  the  members  of  the  churches. 
On  these  cards  is  the  following  prayer :  "  0  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  who  by  thy  burning  thirst  and  agony  on 
the  cross  didst  suffer  for  poor  drunkards,  grant,  we 
beseech  thee,  by  thy  sacred  thirst  and  agony,  to 
protect  from  the  allurements  of  intoxicating  drink  all 
who  are  in  danger  of  eternal  loss  through  the  demon 
of  intemperance.  Amen."  Protestants  no  less  than 
Catholics  might  well  join  in  that  prayer,  not  only  in 
Lent,  but  all  the  year  round.  And  people  who  claim 
the  right  to  drink  moderately  in  their  homes  might 
well  deny  themselves  in  the  spirit  of  and  in  fellow- 
ship with  their  Eedeemer.  "  The  servant  is  not 
greater  than  his  Lord." 

A  SLEEPING  WATCHMAN. 

At  a  fire  the  watchman,  whose  duty  it  was  to  take 
care  that  no  harm  came  to  the  building  he  was  paid 
to  guard,  was  the  last  person  on  the  premises  to  be 


100  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

aroused.  All  the  other  tenants  had  escaped,  when, 
not  finding  him,  search  was  made,  and  he  was  awak- 
ened and  saved  with  the  greatest  difficulty.  Are 
there  other  watchmen  sleeping  on  guard?  It  is  a  ter- 
rible thing  for  a  church,  or  for  a  family,  when  those 
who  are  placed  as  guardians  are  like  the  watchman 
characterized  by  Isaiah :  "  His  watchmen  are  blind : 
.  .  .  dumb  dogs,  they  can  not  bark;  sleeping,  lying 
down,  loving  to  slumber." 

AN  AWAKENED  CONSCIENCE. 

The  man  who  commits  sin  and  imagines  he  can  go 
his  own  way  and  be  happy  if  only  his  sin  is  not  dis- 
covered, makes  the  fatal  mistake  of  leaving  his  con- 
science out  of  the  account.  No  man  can  tell  when 
conscience  will  rise  up  and  shake  the  accusing  finger 
in  his  face,  and  make  him  condemn  himself.  This 
was  illustrated  when  a  young  thief  who  had  stolen  a 
package  of  diamonds  worth  over  $1,000  walked  into 
the  West  Twentieth  Street  Police  Station,  in  New 
York  City,  and  confessed  himself  a  thief  in  order  to 
save  a  colored  girl  who  was  held  for  the  crime.  That 
mysterious  thing  we  call  conscience  would  not  let  him 
sleep  or  enjoy  his  stolen  goods  in  peace,  but  took  him 
by  the  throat  and  marched  him  to  jail  for  his  misdeeds. 
It  was  like  the  case  of  the  men  who  were  about  to 
stone  the  woman  to  death  for  adultery,  and  Jesus  said 
to  them :  ''  He  that  is  without  sin  among  you,  let  him 
first  cast  a  stone  at  her.^'  And  John,  recording  the 
incident,   says:     "They  which  heard  it,  being  con- 


TORN  BY  THE  SHARKS.  101 

victed  by  their  own  conscience,  went  out  one  by  one  " 
(John  viii.  9). 

TORN  BY  THE  SHARKS. 

A  published  letter  from  Samoa,  the  island  made 
forever  famous  by  the  residence  of  Robert  Louis  Ste- 
venson, tells  the  thrilling  story  of  the  almost  miracu- 
lous escape  of  a  gentleman  and  two  ladies  from  death 
by  sharks.  They  were  out  in  an  open  boat,  far  from 
land,  when  the  boat  capsized  and  threw  them  into 
the  sea.  Being  expert  swimmers,  they  abandoned  the 
boat  and  swam  toward  the  shore.  The  women  were 
pursued  by  sharks,  and  only  escaped  by  climbing  the 
anchor-chain  on  a  lighter.  As  it  was,  their  clothing 
was  torn  from  their  bodies,  and  their  limbs  painfully 
lacerated.  The  gentleman  was  separated  from  them 
in  the  darkness,  and  finally  reached  the  shore.  He, 
too,  was  pursued  by  sharks,  which  wounded  him  in 
a  dozen  places.  He  was  found  wandering,  a  raving 
maniac.  Between  fits  of  hysterical  laughter  and  sob- 
bing, he  would  fight  imaginary  battles  with  sharks. 

I  read  this  terrible  story,  and,  turning  over  the 
page,  read  the  story  of  a  man  who  went  to  his  home  in 
Paterson,  N.  J.,  drunk,  the  night  before,  and  beat  his 
wife  and  five  children  in  a  most  brutal  manner.  The 
family  were  compelled  to  flee  to  the  neighbors  for 
refuge.  Then  the  drunkard  took  an  ax  and  proceeded 
to  wreck  the  interior  of  his  house.  He  was  finally 
arrested  and  taken  to  jail,  and  slept  away  his  drunken 
spree  on  the  cell  floor.     The  next  morning  he  was  in 


102  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

the  depths  of  despair  and  remorse,  as  he  is  a  peace- 
able man,  and  kind  to  his  wife  and  children  when 
sober.  As  I  laid  down  the  paper  I  thought  that  the 
sharks  of  Samoa  were  not  more  fierce  than  the  shark- 
like passions  and  lusts  which  transform  a  peaceful 
home  into  a  hell.  "  He  that  is  slow  to  anger  is  better 
than  the  mighty ;  and  he  that  ruleth  his  spirit,  than 
he  that  taketh  a  city"  (Prov.  xvi.  32). 

A  HUMAN    LADDER. 

Notwithstanding  all  that  is  said  to  the  contrary,  we 
believe  that  it  is  true  that  there  is  more  heroism  in 
common  life  to-day  than  ever  before.  At  a  fire  in  a 
tenement-house  in  New  York  City  in  the  winter  of 
1897  the  janitor,  Charles  F.  Lorenz,  performed  an  act 
which  places  him  in  the  line  of  heroes.  Before  the 
firemen  arrived  the  tenants  were  having  a  desperate 
time  on  the  fire-escapes.  The  ladder  intended  to 
reach  the  ground  was  too  short  by  ten  feet.  People 
came  down  to  the  last  platform,  and  were  afraid  to 
venture  on  the  short  and  shaky  ladder  and  make  the 
drop  to  the  street.  Others  were  crowding  down  the 
escapes  behind  them,  and  it  looked  as  if  some  terri- 
ble accident  would  happen.  Lorenz,  the  janitor,  was 
equal  to  the  emergency.  Standing  on  tiptoe  on  the 
stoop,  he  managed  to  reach  the  bottom  of  the  ladder, 
and,  holding  it  firmly  by  the  lowest  round,  told  the 
excited  people  to  descend.  And  thus  over  his  body 
men,  women,  and  children  found  their  way  in  safety 
to  the  street.     That  was  a  heroic  deed,  and  yet  it  is 


IN  REACH  OF  THE  LIFE-LINE.  103 

only  a  faint  illustration  of  the  heroism  and  self-sacri- 
fice of  Him  who  left  all  the  glory  of  heaven  and  came 
down  to  earth  that  we  might  through  Him  be  saved. 
"  Surely  he  hath  borne  our  griefs,  and  carried  our  sor- 
rows, yet  we  did  esteem  him  stricken,  smitten  of  God 
and  afflicted.  But  he  was  wounded  for  our  transgres- 
sions, he  was  bruised  for  our  iniquities :  the  chastise- 
ment of  our  peace  was  upon  him ;  and  with  his  stripes 
we  are  healed  "  (Isaiah  liii.  4,  5) . 

IN  REACH  OF  THE  LIFE-LINE— BUT  LOST. 

As  the  Weehawken  ferry-boat  neared  the  Jersey 
side  one  morning,  the  captain  saw  a  man  on  an  up- 
turned boat,  drifting  rapidly  down  the  river.  He 
reversed  the  engines,  and  when  the  ferry-boat  got 
within  fifty  feet  of  the  capsized  boat,  the  cries  of  the 
shipwrecked  man,  "Help!  Save  me!"  could  be  plainly 
heard.  A  deck-hand  seized  a  life-preserver  to  which 
a  line  was  attached,  and  tossed  it  to  the  man  in  dis- 
tress. The  line  fell  across  the  man's  shoulder,  but 
he  made  no  attempt  to  grasp  it.  Then  the  deck- 
hand tied  the  end  of  the  rope  around  his  own  body 
and,  jumping  overboard  in  the  icy  flood,  swam  to  the 
upturned  boat.  When  within  a  few  feet  of  the  row- 
boat  he  came  to  the  end  of  the  line,  and  did  not  dare 
to  loosen  himself  from  it.  He  could  barely  touch  the 
clothing  of  the  man,  but  could  not  grip  him  with 
sufficient  strength  to  take  him  back  with  him  to  the 
ferry-boat.  He  cried  out,  "For  God's  sake,  jump! 
I'll  catch  you."     But  the  man  remained  motionless 


104  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

on  the  boat,  and  only  moaned.  Overcome  by  cold 
and  exhaustion,  the  deck-hand  was  compelled  to  go 
back  to  his  own  boat.  Then  another  line  was  thrown, 
and  coiled  about  the  man  on  the  wreck,  and  this  time 
he  clutched  it  with  a  seeming  purpose  to  be  saved. 
Right  heartily  the  crew  pulled  in  on  the  line,  but  be- 
fore he  came  within  reach  he  let  go  the  rope  and  sank 
forever  out  of  sight.  How  true  to  life  is  that  sad 
picture,  in  illustrating  the  fate  of  many  who  are  ship- 
wrecked by  their  sins,  and  are  drifting  to  certain 
ruin !  Tho  the  life-line  is  thrown  within  their  reach, 
their  sins  have  so  benumbed  their  power  to  choose, 
that  they  will  not  seize  it,  or,  if  they  do,  permit  it 
to  drop  again  from  their  nerveless  fingers.  A  man's 
own  will  is  the  determining  agency  in  salvation. 
Nothing  can  stand  in  the  way  of  the  man  who  really 
chooses  Christ.  "  And  the  Spirit  and  the  bride  say, 
Come.  And  let  him  that  heareth  say.  Come.  And 
let  him  that  is  athirst  come.  And  whosoever  ivill,  let 
him  take  the  water  of  life  freely  "  (Rev.  xxii.  17). 

THE  WRECKERS. 

In  a  terrible  railway  disaster  in  Alabama,  it  is  be- 
lieved that  the  fearful  loss  of  life  and  property  was 
caused  by  robbers,  who  deliberately  wrecked  the  train 
in  order  that  they  might  rifle  the  pockets  of  the  dead 
and  wounded  passengers.  Immediately  after  the  train 
fell  into  the  abyss,  three  men  rushed  from  the  side  of 
a  hill  on  the  banks  of  the  river  and,  after  robbing  the 
passengers,  set  fire  to  portions  of  the  train,  and  es- 


A  PAUPER  IN  THE  MIDST  OF  PLENTY.     105 

caped.  These  wreckers  were  pursued,  with  a  heavy- 
price  set  on  their  heads.  They  were  not  very  shrewd. 
Had  they  gone  to  New  York  and  taken  out  a  liquor 
license,  they  could  have  carried  on  their  work  of 
wreckage  and  pillage  as  well,  and,  instead  of  having  a 
reward  for  their  arrest,  every  policeman's  uniform  on 
the  street  would  have  been  a  pledge  for  their  protec- 
tion. 

"  He  sitteth  in  the  lurking-places  of  the  villages : 
in  the  secret  places  doth  he  murder  the  innocent :  his 
eyes  are  privily  set  against  the  poor.  He  lieth  in 
wait  secretly  as  a  lion  in  his  den ;  he  lieth  in  wait  to 
catch  the  poor :  he  doth  catch  the  poor,  when  he  draw- 
eth  him  into  his  net"  (Psalm  x.  8,  9). 

A  PAUPER  IN  THE  MIDST  OF  PLENTY. 

An  old  German  shoemaker  died  in  the  hospital  in 
Paterson,  N.  J.,  who  was  supposed  to  be  without 
money,  as  it  was  known  he  was  without  friends. 
His  body  was  turned  over  to  the  poormaster,  who  was 
surprised  on  going  to  the  old  cobbler's  shop  to  find  not 
only  a  life  insurance  policy,  but  a  bank-book  showing 
deposits  amounting  to  $4,000,  and  other  articles  val- 
ued at  $500  more.  The  old  man  had  lived  like  a 
pauper,  while  he  might  have  surrounded  his  old  age 
with  comforts.  Alas!  that  there  are  so  many  who 
follow  his  example  in  spiritual  things — men  and 
women  who  might  be  clothed  with  righteousness,  and 
feast  on  love,  and  joy,  and  peace  in  the  Holy  Ghost, 
but  who  are  living  like  tramps,  and  will  die  spiritual 


106  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

paupers.  How  much  wiser  to  live  so  that  we  may 
inherit  the  promise  of  Paul  to  the  Philippians :  "  My 
God  shall  supply  all  your  need  according  to  his  riches 
in  glory  by  Christ  Jesus  "  (Phil.  iv.  19). 

REPENTANCE  THAT  COMES  TOO  LATE. 

A  pitiable  illustration  of  sinning  in  haste  and  re- 
penting at  one's  leisure  without  avail  occurred  in  an 
Eastern  city.  A  husband  and  wife,  both  young  peo- 
ple, had  a  quarrel  and  parted  in  anger.  The  man 
rushed  from  the  house,  and  tho  the  wife  followed 
him  to  the  door  and  piteously  called  after  him  to 
come  back,  he  was  heedless  of  her  appeal.  Three  or 
four  hours  later,  his  anger  having  cooled  down,  and 
beuig  now  thoroughly  ashamed  of  himself,  he  started 
home  to  ask  her  forgiveness,  and  dreamed  of  ending 
the  evening  in  peace.  Imagine  his  consternation  and 
grief  to  find  that  in  his  short  absence  the  house  had 
been  burned  down  and  the  charred  dead  body  of  his 
wife  taken  from  the  ruins.  "  If  I  had  not  left  her  in 
anger !  Oh,  if  I  could  only  hear  her  say,  '  I  forgive 
you  ' !  "  was  the  poor  fellow's  unavailing  cry. 

A  DEMAND  FOR  PUBLIC  SPIRIT. 

A  vicious  young  hoodlum  brought  out  a  rat  which 
he  had  caught  in  a  tenement-house,  and  putting  it 
down,  trap  and  all,  on  the  sidewalk,  brought  forth  a 
kettle  of  boiling  water  and  proceeded  to  have  "  fun  " 
by  pouring  the  hot  water  over  the  wretched  victim. 


A  NEW  TESTAMENT  FEAST.  107 

His  sport  did  not  last  long,  howeA'er,  for  an  energetic 
young  clerk  on  her  way  to  work,  seeing  the  cruel  deed, 
shouted,  "Stop  that  at  once!"  The  brutal  creature 
only  looked  at  her  in  astonishment  and  laughed. 
Then  she  pleaded  with  him  to  be  merciful,  and  he 
mocked  her.  Then  she  went  to  a  policeman  and  had 
him  arrested  and  taken  before  the  police-court,  and, 
in  spite  of  her  dread  of  notoriety,  appeared  against 
him  and  had  him  punished.  Of  such  stuff  heroes 
and  heroines  are  made.  The  moral  climate  of  the 
world  would  rapidly  grow  healthier  if  we  all  followed 
her  example. 

A  NEW  TESTAMENT  FEAST. 

The  Salvation  Army  in  Newark,  N.  J.,  made  a  feast, 
and  issued  invitations  and  sent  them  out  everywhere, 
asking  those  who  were  specially  mentioned  to  come 
and  enjoy  the  splendid  dinner  they  had  provided. 
The  only  condition  was  that  no  man  was  to  come  who 
had  money  enough  to  buy  a  dinner  for  himself.  Ab- 
solute poverty  was  the  one  necessary  ticket  for  admis- 
sion. Over  a  thousand  ragged  and  wretched  men 
were  fed  at  their  tables.  Perhaps  a  great  many  peo- 
ple who  shrugged  their  shoulders  and  sneered  when 
they  read  of  that  feast  will  read  the  words  of  Jesus 
very  reverently  where  he  says :  "  When  thou  makest 
a  dinner  or  a  supper,  call  not  thy  friends  nor  thy 
brethren,  neither  thy  kinsmen  nor  thy  rich  neighbors ; 
lest  they  also  bid  thee  again,  and  a  recompense  be 
made  thee.     But  when  thou  makest  a  feast,  call  the 


108  AD  EC  DOTES  AND  MORALS. 

poor,  the  maimed,  the  lame,  the  blind :  and  thou  shalt 
be  blessed;  for  they  can  not  recompense  thee,  for 
thou  shalt  be  recompensed  at  the  resurrection  of  the 
just."  If  Jesus  Christ  were  to  come  to  our  modern 
cities,  I  wonder  where  he  would  feel  most  at  home? 

LOST  AT  THE  MOUTH  OF  THE  HARBOR. 

As  an  Anchor  Line  steamer  was  coming  to  anchor 
off  the  quarantine  station  in  New  York  bay  at  the  end 
of  a  long  and  stormy  passage  from  the  Mediterra- 
nean, the  boatswain  became  entangled  in  the  anchor- 
chain  and  fell  overboard.  Tho  a  boat  was  lowered  at 
once  and  every  effort  was  made  to  save  his  life,  he 
died  there  in  the  mouth  of  the  harbor,  when  all  the 
dangers  of  the  voyage  seemed  to  be  over.  So  some 
fall  into  sin  and  lose  their  souls  when  almost  in  sight 
of  the  harbor  of  heaven.  How  important  that  we 
should  heed  the  warning  of  the  Word  of  God  that  only 
those  who  persevere  "  to  the  end  "  shall  be  saved ! 

THE  SONS  OF  GOD. 

When  the  Prince  of  Wales  visited  this  country  in 
1860,  he  sailed  home  on  a  ship  which  encountered  a 
very  severe  storm,  and  was  driven  far  out  of  her 
course.  The  voyage  was  so  long  delaj^ed  that  the 
food  was  entirely  devoured,  except  the  salt  fare  of 
the  crew,  and  the  Prince  of  Wales  was  compelled  to 
be  satisfied  with  this  scanty  provision.  And  yet,  tho 
enduring  hardship  for  a  time,  he  enjoyed  the  con- 


THE  WORLD  COMING  IN  LIKE  A  FLOOD.     109 

sciousness  that  he  was  the  son  of  the  Queen  of  England 
and  heir  to  the  throne.  Christians  suffer  trial  and 
hardship  in  this  world  like  other  people,  but  they  are 
comforted  and  sustained  by  the  assurance  that  they 
are  the  children  of  God — "and  if  children,  then 
heirs;  heirs  of  God,  and  jomt  heirs  with  Christ" 
(Romans  ix.  17) . 

FOR  THE  GOOD  OF  OTHERS. 

A  gentleman  in  evening  dress,  on  his  way  to  a  social 
party,  saw  a  brutal  truck-driver  unmercifully  beating 
a  horse  with  a  shovel.  He  plead  with  the  driver  to 
desist,  and  offered  to  assist  him,  but  the  only  answer 
was  a  huge  piece  of  coal  hurled  at  his  head.  Then  he 
secured  a  policeman,  had  the  brute  arrested  for  cruelty 
to  animals,  and  arrayed  as  he  was,  in  evening  dress, 
mounted  the  coal-cart  and  drove  the  horse  back  to  his 
stable.  Such  men  help  on  the  kingdom  of  Christ  on 
earth.  If  the  man  had  been  simply  looking  after  his 
own  interest,  he  would  have  hurried  by  to  his  party 
on  the  other  side  of  the  street.  But  his  deed  was  in 
the  spirit  of  Him  who  denied  himself  his  own  ease 
and  comfort  for  the  good  of  others. 

THE  WORLD  COMING  IN  LIKE  A  FLOOD. 

A  strange  case  of  a  church  driven  out  by  trolley- 
cars  comes  from  Brooklyn.  The  church  in  question  a 
few  years  ago  had  one  of  the  finest  sites  in  the  city, 
but  two  trolley-lines  have  converged  about  it,  and  the 


110  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

noise  is  so  confusing  that  the  pastor  has  resigned  on 
account  of  it,  and  declares  that  the  church  is  likely  to 
be  ruined,  as  the  property  for  church  purposes  is  val- 
ueless and  the  congregation  is  unable  to  build  on  a 
new  site.  Other  churches  have  been  ruined  by  the 
din  and  confusion  of  worldliness,  tho  not  exactly  in 
the  same  way.  It  is  the  one  great  threat,  however, 
against  the  success  of  the  church.  The  church  needs 
to  stand  strong  in  the  promise  of  God  that  "  When  the 
enemy  shall  come  in  like  a  flood,  the  Spirit  of  the 
Lord  shall  lift  up  a  standard  against  him  "  (Isaiah 
lix.  19). 

A  PASSION  FOR  SAVING  PEOPLE. 

There  is  a  young  man  named  John  Boice,  living  in 
New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  who  has  a  passion  for  saving 
people  from  drowning.  In  three  years  he  rescued 
eighteen  persons  from  drowning  in  the  Karitan  River. 
That  is  splendid,  but  there  is  a  yet  nobler  passion 
which  has  for  its  object  the  saving  of  the  soul.  Some 
people  become  very  daring  and  skilful  in  this  noble 
art,  and  it  may  be  learned  and  practised  by  every  one. 
"  Let  him  know,  that  he  which  converted  the  sinner 
from  the  error  of  his  ways  shall  save  a  soul  from  death, 
and  shall  hide  a  multitude  of  sins"  (James  v.  20). 

A  GROVELING  SOUL. 

The  Louisville  Courier-Journal  tells  the  story  of  a 
strange  man  who,  notwithstanding  he  is  the  owner  of 


BREAKS  DOWN  ALL  BARRIERS.  Ill 

an  office-building  in  Chicago  worth  several  thousand 
dollars,  prefers  to  go  about  the  country  in  association 
with  the  vilest  tramps,  and  has  been  an  inmate  of 
fifty-two  jails.  This  poor  creature  is  a  fitting  illus- 
tration of  men  and  women  who  have  been  reared  to 
noble  possibilities,  whose  education  has  opened  to 
them  the  door  of  good  books  and  pure  thoughts  and 
holy  friendships,  who  turn  away  from  all  these  things 
to  live  in  their  passions  and  lusts  until  they  are  led 
captive  by  the  devil  at  his  will.  Having  beautiful 
raiment  at  hand,  they  clothe  themselves  in  filthy  rags 
until  mind  and  heart  are  "  at  home  "  in  nothing  else. 

BROTHERHOOD   BREAKS  DOWN  ALL   BARRIERS. 

One  Christmas  Day  in  New  York  City  a  millionaire 
was  driving  down  Fifth  Avenue  in  his  sleigh,  when  his 
high-spirited  horse  ran  away.  The  sleigh  was  over- 
turned, and  the  rich  man  and  his  coachman  rolled  in 
the  snow  together.  As  they  struggled  to  their  feet 
and  turned  to  follow  the  runaway  horse  they  saw  the 
sleigh  strike  a  poor  peddler  and  knock  him  into  a 
heap,  both  runners  passing  over  his  body.  The  mil- 
lionaire uttered  a  cry  of  dismay  when  he  saw  the 
ragged  peddler  fall  in  the  street,  and  leaving  his  valu- 
able trotter  vO  vanish  in  the  distance  he  cast  himself 
on  his  knees  by  the  injured  man  and  lifted  his  blood- 
stained head  tenderly  in  his  arms.  He  got  help  as 
soon  as  possible,  and  himself  assisted  in  carrying  the 
poor  fellow  into  a  fashionable  hotel  near-by,  and  sent 
for  a  doctor.     Later  he  got  him  a  comfortable  room 


112  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

in  a  hospital  and  ordered  that  every  possible  attention 
should  be  given  him.  When  the  peddler  was  seen  by 
the  reporter  at  the  hospital  and  told  that  the  man 
whose  horse  had  run  over  him  was  a  millionaire,  he 
replied:  "A  millionaire,  is  he?  Well,  all  I  can  say 
is  that  he's  the  whitest  man  I  ever  seen  in  me  life, 
an'  I'll  never  say  another  word  agin  millionaires.  I 
tell  yer  wot,  that  man  is  a  wonder.  Why,  he — he — 
he  went  down  on  his  marrow-bones  in  the  snow  along- 
sider  me  an'  took  my  head  on  his  knee,  same  as  if  I 
was  his  brother — an'  it  all  bleedin',  too."  0  brother- 
hood, how  great  is  thy  power !  There  is  no  quack  way 
of  bridging  the  so-called  gulf  between  the  rich  and 
the  poor,  but  with  the  brotherhood  of  Jesus  Christ 
exemplified  as  in  this  case  there  is  no  gulf. 

GOD'S  PROVISION  FOR   HIS  CREATURES. 

Naturalists  have  made  some  wonderful  discoveries 
concerning  the  position  of  the  ears  on  the  bodies  of 
certain  insects.  They  are  not  placed  as  in  larger  ani- 
mals, always  on  the  side  of  the  head,  but  are  put  on 
that  part  of  the  body  where  they  are  likely  to  be  of 
most  advantage,  or  to  have  the  best  protection.  The 
common  house-fly,  for  instance,  does  his  hearing  by 
means  of  some  little  rows  of  corpuscles  which  are 
situated  on  the  knobbed  threads  that  occupy  the 
places  taken  up  by  the  hind  wings  of  other  species 
of  insects.  The  garden  slug,  or  shell-less  snail,  has 
his  organs  of  hearing  on  each  side  of  his  neck,  and 
the  grasshopper  has  them  on  each  of  his  broad,  flat 


A  MAN  ON  FIRE.  113 

thighs.  In  some  of  the  smaller  insects  they  are  at 
the  base  of  the  wings,  and  in  others  on  the  bottom 
of  the  feet.  Surely  He  who  has  made  the  grasshopper 
a  special  subject  of  study,  and  put  ears  in  his  thighs 
that  he  may  better  fill  his  little  sphere,  will  not  fail  to 
satisfy  the  deepest  longings  of  the  soul  of  man. 

BEWILDERED  SOULS. 

At  a  fire  in  New  York  City  a  man  appeared  at  a 
window  who  seemed  so  dazed  and  bewildered  by  the 
smoke  and  excitement  that  he  paid  no  heed  to  what 
was  said  to  him.  A  brave  fireman,  risking  his  own 
life,  made  his  way  through  smoke  and  flame,  and  car- 
rying him  in  his  arms  as  tho  he  were  a  child,  saved 
him  almost  in  spite  of  himself.  Many  poor  sinners 
there  are  who  wander  dazed  and  bewildered  among 
the  highways'and  hedges.  It  is  our  blessed  privilege 
to  go  forth  and  "compel  them  to  come  in." 

A  MAN  ON  HRE. 

A  strange  sight  was  witnessed  in  Arlington,  N.  J. 
A  crossed  electric  wire,  one  end  of  which  was  attached 
to  a  large  maple-tree,  produced  a  remarkable  illumi- 
nation of  the  tree's  trunk  beneath  the  bark.  It  seemed 
as  tho  the  entire  trunk  was  a  mass  of  sparkling  fire, 
each  crack  and  crevice  in  the  bark  glowing  with 
an  electric  flame  that  lighted  up  the  entire  street. 
The  unusual  and  beautiful  spectacle  attracted  hun- 
dreds of  people,  who  stood  for  hours  watching  the 
8 


114  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

sight.  It  was  somethiBg  like  that  in  a  spiritual  way 
which  attracted  men  to  Peter  and  his  friends  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost.  That  above  all  else  it  is  which  we 
need  to  attract  the  heedless  throng  away  from  their 
sins  and  compel  them  to  listen  to  the  message  of  sal- 
vation. Let  there  be  a  man  on  fire,  and  there  will  be 
those  who  will  come  to  see  him  burn. 

THE  HEALING  QUALITIES  OF  MUSIC. 

Several  years  ago  a  society  was  formed  in  London, 
composed  of  prominent  physicians  and  skilled  musi- 
cians, for  the  purpose  of  testing  the  power  of  music  to 
heal  disease.  Its  success  was  so  great  that  a  society 
has  been  formed  in  New  York  City  to  prosecute  the 
experiment  in  this  country.  Many  of  our  leading 
medical  men  are  enthusiastic  in  their  faith  in  the  new 
system.  One  well-known  physician  says :  "  Sound 
vibrations  in  music  certainly  act  in  a  marked  way 
upon  certain  forms  of  disease.  For  example,  cases  of 
insomnia,  no  matter  how  severe,  are  invariably  re- 
lieved. We  all  know  how  lively  music  dispels  de- 
spondency. Every  soldier  will  testify  to  the  inspirit- 
ing influence  of  music  in  war.  This,  scientifically 
considered,  means  simply  that  sound  vibrations  act 
directly  upon  the  nerves."  This  is  in  harmony  with 
the  teaching  of  Scripture  that  "  A  merry  heart  doeth 
good  like  a  medicine,"  and  the  injunction  that  it  is 
our  duty  to  make  "  melody  in  our  hearts  unto  the 
Lord."  The  heart  that  is  attuned  to  the  divine  har- 
monies of  the  Gospel  will  be  healed  of  all  morbid 
spiritual  disorders. 


GIVING  THE  WRONG  SIGNAL.  115 

HEIRS  TO  A  FORTUNE,  YET  PAUPERS. 

An  old  woman  was  given  refuge  at  the  Bellevue 
Hospital,  who  was  trying  to  make  her  way  from  her 
home  in  Ohio  to  Holland.  She  had  with  her  three 
old-fashioned  carpet-bags,  to  which  she  clung  per- 
sistently, because  in  them  were  the  papers  with  which 
she  expected  to  prove  her  rights  to  the  .fortune  which 
she  said  was  awaiting  her  in  Holland.  Christians, 
too,  are  journeying  to  a  far  land,  where  they  are  claim- 
ants to  a  rich  inheritance.  But  God  does  not  let  us 
go  on  our  v/ay  as  beggars ;  he  clothes  us  with  white 
robes  and  charges  himself  with  our  expenses  on  the 
way  thither.  It  is  only  when  we  lose  faith  in  God 
and  in  his  bountiful  care  and  abundant  provision  for 
us  that  we  become  spiritual  paupers. 

GIVING  THE   WRONG  SIGNAL. 

A  trolley-car  coming  into  AUentown,  Pa.,  from 
Bethlehem,  was  struck  by  a  passenger-train  on  a 
grade-crossing,  costing  the  life  of  one  man  and  serious 
injuries  to  many  others.  The  trolley-car  conductor 
had  gone  ahead  and  carelessly  signaled  to  the  motor- 
man  to  cross  the  tracks.  Upon  noticing  more  care- 
fully, he  saw  an  approaching  train,  and  changed  the 
signal,  but  it  was  too  late.  How  many  parents  have 
made  that  fatal  mistake!  They  have  given  the  care- 
less signal  which  afterward  they  would  have  sacrificed 
their  lives  to  change,  but  found  it  too  late  to  save  the 
young  hearts  that  trusted  them. 


116  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

A  MAN  OR  A  MINISTER— WHICH  ? 

A  distinguished  Massachusetts  clergyman  tells  a 
good  story  at  his  own  expense.  He  was  on  a  tramp 
through  the  White  Mountains  with  another  clergy- 
man for  a  companion.  One  day  they  mounted  the 
driver's  seat  of  a  stage-coach.  As  is  often  the  case, 
the  stage-driver  was  an  interesting  character,  whose 
conversation  abounded  in  good  stories.  The  three 
speedily  became  friendly,  and  it  was  with  reluctance 
that  they  parted  at  the  end  of  the  journey.  "  I'm 
glad  ter  hev  met  yer  fellers, "  said  the  driver  on  leav- 
ing them.  "  Yer  see,  I  haven't  seen  a  man  this  sum- 
mer exceptin'  ministers."  Does  anybody  doubt  that 
these  two  men  had  more  influence  for  good  on  this 
driver  than  all  the  duly  uniformed  ministers  he  had 
met  that  summer? 

THE  CHILDREN  AND  THE  CHURCH. 

The  boys  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  choir  in  London 
possess  the  strangest  playground  in  England.  The 
top  of  the  roof  is  enclosed  by  means  of  strong  beams 
and  wire  netting,  so  that  balls  can  not  fall  on  the  un- 
suspecting passers-by.  Here  on  the  leads,  hockey, 
stump  cricket,  and  the  like  go  briskly  forward  in  any 
of  the  odd  moments  which  they  have  to  themselves. 
In  the  winter  a  thin  sheet  of  water,  which  quickly 
freezes,  converts  the  roof  into  a  skatiug-pond.  Those 
who  know  choir  boys  only  with  those  solemn  faces 
which  they  invariably  assume  when  seated  in  their 


GIVING  THE  BEST.  117 

stalls  in  the  cathedral  would  be  astonished  to  find 
what  remarkably  light-hearted  youngsters  they  are 
when  skipping  about  on  this  roof  of  theirs,  despite 
the  smuts  and  an  occasional  whiff  of  smoke  from  a 
neighboring  chimney.  Christianity  should  be  pre- 
sented to  childhood,  and  in  fact  to  everybody,  with 
its  joyous  side.  It  is  full  of  hope  and  courage  and 
inspiration.  To  represent  it  as  forever  silencing  the 
natural  instincts  of  the  heart  is  a  false  presentation. 
The  positive  side  is  far  more  attractive  than  the  nega- 
tive, especially  to  youth.  If  we  walk  in  the  Spirit 
we  shall  not  fulfil  the  lusts  of  the  flesh. 

GIVING  THE  BEST. 

A  very  curious  and  beautiful  letter  was  once  writ- 
ten to  President  Lincoln.  It  would  certainly  have 
given  him  peculiar  pleasure  had  he  read  it,  but  he 
never  did.  This  is  how  it  was :  In  1863  some  pirates 
from  Peru  captured  and  carried  off  some  natives  from 
the  Marquesas  Island  in  the  South  Sea,  one  of  them 
being  the  son  of  a  powerful  chief.  This  chief  made  a 
vow  that  he  would,  for  revenge,  eat  the  first  white 
man  who  fell  into  his  hands.  A  man  named  Whalan, 
the  first  mate  of  a  New  Bedford  whaling-ship,  was 
before  many  months  captured  by  the  Marquesans ;  he 
it  was  who  must  furnish  a  feast  for  the  cannibal  chief. 
But  all  the  people  he  ruled  over  were  not  cannibals; 
among  them  was  a  native  missionary  from  Hawaii, 
named  Kakela.  Kakela  had  just  received  a  present 
of  a  boat  from  a  church  in  Boston,  a  valuable  six- 


118  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

oared  boat  that  he  needed  much  in  his  missionary 
work.  He  set  about  trying  to  save  Mr.  Whalan's 
life,  but  the  chief  would  give  him  up  only  on  one  con- 
dition— that  he  should  have  the  new  boat  in  exchange 
for  the  captive.  Kakela  bought  him  at  that  price, 
and  helped  him  to  leave  the  islands.  The  story  came 
to  President  Lincoln's  knowledge,  and  in  the  midst  of 
the  terrible  cares  that  the  life-and-death  struggle  of 
the  nation  threw  on  him  he  characteristically  found 
time  to  send  a  message  and  a  present  to  the  poor 
South  Sea  missionary.  Kakela  wrote  a  letter  of 
thanks  in  return,  which  closed  with  these  sentences : 
"As  to  this  friendly  deed  of  mine,  its  seed  was 
brought  from  your  great  land  by  certain  of  your  coun- 
trymen who  had  received  the  love  of  God.  It  was 
planted  in  Hawaii,  and  I  brought  it  here  that  these 
dark  regions  might  receive  the  root  of  all  that  is  good 
and  true,  which  is  love.  How  shall  I  repay  your 
great  kindness  to  me?  Thus  David  asked  of  Jona- 
than, and  thus  I  ask  of  you,  the  President  of  ^the 
United  States.  This  is  my  only  payment,  that  which 
I  received  from  the  Lord,  'love.'  May  the  love  of 
Jesus  Christ  abound  toward  you  till  the  end  of  this 
terrible  war  in  your  land."  Before  the  letter  reached 
the  White  House,  President  Lincoln  had  died  at  the 
hands  of  the  assassin.  All  the  return  we  can  make 
to  Jesus  Christ  for  his  great  gift  of  salvation  is  our 
love,  but  that  is  what  he  wants,  and  is  the  very 
best. 


ALL  OUR  NEEDS.  119 

THE  DUTY  OF  SUMMER  TO  WINTER. 

Lone  Wolf,  the  Cheyenne  Indian  who  led  one  of  the 
Kiowa  uprisings,  afterward  became  a  Christian  and 
an  effective  preacher.  He  made  the  following  stri- 
king appeal  for  Indian  missions  before  the  congrega- 
tion of  the  Calvary  Baptist  church,  New  York  City : 
"  When  the  Great  Spirit  created  the  world,  He  divided 
it  into  two  great  seasons — one  warm,  and  the  other 
cold.  The  warm  season  brings  light  and  life;  the 
grass  springs  up,  and  the  birds  sing,  there  is  growth 
and  development  to  fruit,  and  joy  and  gladness.  The 
cold  season  brings  death  and  desolation;  the  grass 
dies,  the  trees  are  bare,  the  fruits  are  gone,  the  ani- 
mals become  weak  and  poor,  the  very  water  turns 
hard,  there  is  no  joy,  no  gladness.  You  Christian 
white  people  are  like  the  summer ;  you  have  life  and 
warmth  and 'light  and  knowledge.  The  poor,  wild 
Indians  are  like  the  winter ;  we  have  no  growth,  no 
knowledge,  no  joy,  no  gladness.  Won't  you  share 
your  summer  with  us?  Won't  you  help  us  with  the 
light  and  life,  that  we  may  have  joy  and  gladness  and 
knowledge  and  eternal  life  hereafter?"  It  seems  to 
me  that  that  is  a  very  picturesque  and  forcible  way 
of  presenting  the  claim  of  the  heathen  of  every  land 
upon  Christians  for  missionary  help. 

ALL  OUR  NEEDS. 
God  supplies  us  according  to  our  needs  if  we  live  in 
harmony  with  his  purpose.     If  we  cease  to  have  cer- 
tain needs  he  does  not  waste  provision  on  us.     If  by 


120  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

any  emergency  the  need  comes  back,  the  supply  is 
again  provided.  One  of  the  most  interesting  incidents 
in  Dr.  Nansen's  book,  "The  Farthest  North,"  is  the 
description  of  his  dramatic  meeting  with  Jackson  on 
Franz  Josef  Land,  and  his  reference  to  the  manner 
in  which  the  wild  man's  sharpened  senses  discovered 
the  fragments  of  the  soap  which  the  civilized  Euro- 
pean had  used  in  his  morning  ablutions.  Dr.  Nansen 
declares  that  he  could  smell  that  soap  as  plainly  as  if 
it  had  been  a  strong  perfume.  Johanson,  his  redoubt- 
able companion,  also  noted  the  same  thing  when  he 
came  up.  For  weeks  their  sense  of  smell  was  won- 
derfully acute.  As  they  approached  Jackson's  hut 
they  could  smell  everything  it  contained  and  give  a 
sort  of  inventory  of  its  stores  without  entering.  As 
the  days  passed  by  under  their  changed  circumstances 
this  acuteness  wore  off,  and  they  became  quite  normal 
in  that  as  in  other  respects.  The  incidents  aroused 
the  wonder  in  Nansen's  mind  whether  if  a  man  were 
to  live  wild  for  a  few  years  his  sense  of  smell  would 
not  become  quite  as  keen  as  that  of  an  animal. 

THE  CURRENTS  OF  LIFE. 

When  we  are  at  peace  with  God  we  put  ourselves 
in  harmony  with  the  currents  of  life.  All  things  then 
work  together  for  our  good. 

A  very  curious  theory,  lately  revived,  is  that  the 
sap  of  a  living  tree  ebbs  and  flows  in  some  way  in 
sympathy  with  the  tides  of  the  ocean.  This  idea 
comes  from  Italy,  where  a  grower  of  vines  and  other 


UNREAD  PROPHECIES,  121 

fruit-trees,  who  is  also  a  chemist,  has  been  experi- 
menting in  this  direction.  He  says  that  no  trees 
sbould  be  lopped  or  pruned  except  during  the  hours 
of  ebb-tide.  He  has  taken  fourteen  years  to  come  to 
this  conclusion,  and  now  always  acts  upon  it.  The 
result  is  that  his  trees  and  vines  have  developed  beau- 
tiful foliage,  bear  splendid  crops,  and  are  quite  free 
from  the  attacks  of  the  insects  which  devastate  sur- 
rounding orchards. 

UNREAD  PROPHECIES. 

Many  young  people  have  in  their  inheritance  of  tal- 
ents, or  gifts,  or  opportunities,  prophecies  of  greatness 
which  are  dumb  and  silent  to  them  because  they  have 
not  the  wisdom  to  read  them. 

The  Czar  Nicholas,  who  died  in  1855,  is  one  sov- 
ereign who^made  a  love-match.  He  courted  Princess 
Charlotte  of  Prussia,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Frederick 
William  III.,  when  he  was  a  grand  duke,  and  not  the 
heir  expectant  to  the  Eussian  crown.  The  princess, 
when  it  was  considered  that  her  education  was  com- 
pleted, received  from  her  old  governess  a  small  an- 
tique riug,  and  at  once  began  to  wear  it  habitually. 
About  a  year  after  the  gift  was  made.  Grand  Duke 
Nicholas  came  to  visit  at  her  father's  court.  He  fell 
in  love  with  her,  and  one  day,  jvhen  they  sat  beside 
each  other  at  dinner,  he  begged  her  to  give  him  this 
ring  as  a  sign  that  his  love  was  returned. 

"What,  give  a  ring  at  a  dinner-table!  before  all 
these  people?" 


122  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

"  Let  ine  see — press  it  into  that  piece  of  bread  and 
give  it  to  me." 

Gallant  persistence  had  its  reward — press  it  into 
the  bread  and  give  it  to  him  she  did.  And  now 
comes  an  odd  touch  in  the  story :  The  lover  exam- 
ined the  ring  with  an  attention  the  princess  had  never 
given  it,  and  he  found  what  she  had  never  seen — an 
inscription  on  the  inner  side  in  French,  and  that 
inscription  ran :  "  L'lmperatrice  de  la  Eussie."  The 
princess  had  been  wearing  something  that  looked  like 
a  prophecy,  but  she  became  a  wife  and  a  mother  be- 
fore she  was  an  empress.  The  Emperor  Nicholas 
wore  the  little  ring  on  a  chain  about  his  neck  as  long 
as  he  lived. 

ENLARGED  SELF- APPRAISEMENT. 

Solomon  declared  there  was  more  hope  for  a  fool 
than  for  a  man  who  had  an  exaggerated  estimate  of 
himself.  If  some  people  would  only  take  down  the 
scaffolding  of  show  and  display,  and  stand  forth  in 
their  real  size,  the  difference  between  appearance  and 
reality  would  be  as  great  as  that  suggested  in  the 
amusing  incident  which  comes  to  us  from  the  mother- 
country.  When  the  late  Princess  Mary  of  Teck  first 
became  stout,  says  an  English  journal,  she  sent  for 
the  celebrated  Banting.  She  was  surprised  to  see  that 
he  was  still  extremely  bulky,  and  after  a  few  simple 
preparatory  remarks,  she  said :  "  But  your  system 
has  not  made  you  very  thin,  Mr,  Banting. "  "  Allow 
me,  madam,"  said  Banting;  and,   proceeding  to  un- 


ELASTICITY  OF  CONSCIENCE.  123 

button  his  coat,  he  disclosed  a  large  wire  structure 
over  which  the  garment  fitted.  Inside  was  the  real 
Banting,  incased  in  another  coat.  "This,  madam," 
said  he,  pointing  vvith  pardonable  satisfaction  to  his 
cage,  "was  my  size  before  I  commenced  dieting." 
He  then  nimbly  disembarrassed  himself  of  his  frame- 
work, and  stood  before  the  royal  lady  exhibiting  his 
slender  figure!  Apparently  the  interview  led  to 
nothing  but  amusement,  for  the  good  Duchess  of  Teck 
remained  very  stout  to  the  end  of  her  days. 

ELASTiaTY  OF  CONSCIENCE. 

The  elasticity  which  many  respectable  people,  who 
are  honest  about  most  matters,  show  in  regard  to  the 
appropriation  of  public  property  to  their  personal 
uses  has  often  been  remarked.  When  such  people 
are  deceived,  and  duped  in  their  thievery,  all  are  will- 
ing to  laugh.  On  the  posts  of  one  of  the  old  beds  in 
the  Washington  mansion  in  Mount  Vernon  are  small 
glass  knobs  with  sockets  drilled  into  them,  which  fit 
like  spikes,  but  do  not  fasten  on.  It  is  perfectly 
natural  for  visitors  to  place  their  hands  upon  the 
knobs,  and  those  who  do  so  immediately  perceive  that 
they  can  be  taken  off.  The  next  step  is  to  slip  them 
quietly  into  the  pocket  and  carry  them  away  as  relics 
of  the  sacred  place.  Altho  an  attendant  is  employed 
to  watch  this  room,  there  are  so  many  visitors  that 
it  is  impossible  for  him  to  prevent  such  pilfering, 
and  the  glass  knobs  have  to  be  replaced  two  or  three 
times  a  week  during  the  busy  season,  but  that  costs 


124  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

very  little  trouble  and  expense,  A  factory  near  Pitts- 
burg turns  them  out  for  thirty  cents  a  gross,  and  the 
superintendent  is  in  the  habit  of  ordering  a  barrel  of 
them  every  spring.  There  are  several  thousands  of 
these  glass  knobs  scattered  over  the  world,  in  muse- 
ums and  private  collections  of  mementos  and  historical 
relics.  Many  more  are  doubtless  concealed  for  rea- 
sons of  conscience  and  fear  of  discovery,  but  the  guilty 
persons  need  have  no  concern.  The  original  knobs 
that  belonged  to  the  bed  are  safely  laid  away  in  a  vault. 

THE  IMPERIAL  SOUL. 

Every  person  is  born  into  the  world  with  an  impe- 
rial power  over  his  own  nature.  The  power  to  choose 
and  to  will  makes  an  emperor  of  every  one  of  us. 
Nobody  but  ourselves  can  take  away  our  crown. 
Every  year  there  is  an  emperor  crowned  at  Kome. 
The  coronation,  which,  of  course,  takes  place  in  a 
church,  does  not  stir  the  world  to  its  depths,  tho 
there  are  doubtless  many  dwellers  in  Rome  who  have 
an  intense  interest  in  the  matter.  "  The  Emperor  " 
is  the  title  given  to  the  boy  who  distinguishes  himself 
above  all  others  in  his  knowledge  of  Christian  doc- 
trine, or  the  Catechism,  during  the  year.  Vincenzo 
Postacchini  was  the  lad  who  in  1897  was  crowned  em- 
peror. One  of  the  privileges  of  the  candidate  is  to 
visit  the  Pope  and  the  several  cardinals,  who  give 
him  presents.  On  this  year  an  impostor  got  up  a 
train  of  princes,  which  are  a  feature  of  the  new  dig- 
nity, and  went  around  collecting  the  perquisites  af 


BANGERS  TO  THE  HOME  NEST.  125 

the  position  from  the  cardinals.  His  perfidy  was 
soon  discovered,  however,  and  he  was  disgraced  and 
punished. 

DANGERS  TO  THE  HOME  NEST. 

The  dangers  to  the  home  are  beyond  number.  Bad 
books,  poisonous  newspapers,  vile  art  that  stares  from 
the  bill -boards,  and  many  other  deadly  bullets  are 
hurled  at  the  home  nest.  God  bless  the  brave  men 
and  women  who  watch  over  their  children  as  God's 
shepherds  with  honest  hearts! 

At  Cranbrook,  in  Dent,  England,  there  is  a  rifle- 
range  which  has  been  used  by  the  local  volunteers  for 
rifle  practice,  and  at  a  distance  of  about  six  feet  be- 
hind the  targets  there  has  been  built  a  large  stack  of 
fagots  which  serve  to  stop  the  spent  bullets.  One 
year  a  pair  of  nightingales  selected  the  stack  as  the 
site  for  their  nest,  which  they  built  in  the  interior  at 
a  distance  of  about  fifteen  inches  from  the  surface  of 
the  front  facing  the  targets,  about  four  feet  from  the 
ground,  and  almost  in  a  direct  line  with  the  center  of 
one  of  the  targets,  which  are  constructed  of  canvas 
and  allow  the  bullets  to  pass  through  directly  into  the 
fagots.  In  that  situation  the  birds  built  their  nest, 
hatched  their  eggs,  and  reared  their  young,  literally 
in  the  midst  of  a  storm  of  bullets,  one  of  which  ulti- 
mately proved  fatal  to  one  of  the  young  songsters. 
The  wood  of  the  fagots  was  often  splintered  in  every 
direction  around  the  nest,  but  the  little  brown  parents 
never  for  an  hour  left  their  beleaguered  home,  not 


126  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

even  when  an  unlucky  bullet  slew  one  of  the  fledg- 
lings, but  fearlessly  and  faithfully  brought  up  their 
surviving  young  ones,  and  flew  away  with  them  at 
last  for  a  sunnier  home  for  the  winter. 


EVEN-HANDED   JUSTICE. 

Divine  justice  is  always  even-handed.  There  is  no 
favoritism  there.  The  way  disrespect  for  the  law  is 
bred  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  because  of  favoritism, 
which  is  sometimes  shown  in  the  courts,  is  graphic- 
ally illustrated  in  a  case  which  comes  from  the 
West: 

After  the  members  of  the  jury  had  filed  in  and  ta- 
ken their  seats,  the  judge  said :  "  Am  I  to  under- 
stand that  you  wish  further  instructions  from  the 
court? " 

"  Well,  not  exactly  that,  judge,"  answered  the  fore- 
man. "  The  instructions  are  all  clear  enough,  but  we 
are  a  little  in  the  dark  in  regard  to  some  of  the  evi- 
dence. As  we  understand  it,  there  is  no  dispute  as 
to  the  facts  in  the  case.  And  now  we  come  to  the 
real  problem,  which  we  are  of  the  opinion  has  been 
sadly  neglected  by  the  lawyers :  What  is  this  woman's 
social  position?" 

"What!  "  exclaimed  the  judge. 

"What  is  her  social  position?"  repeated  the  fore- 
man. "How  can  we  tell  whether  she  is  a  klepto- 
maniac or  a  thief  without  knowing  that?  If  we  are 
to  reach  a  decision  we  must  hear  more  evidence  on 
that  feature  of  the  case,  and  if  it  is  too  late  to  have 


''BE  YE  ALSO  READY.''  127 

it  introduced,  you  might  just  as  well  call  it  a  mis- 
trial and  start  all  over  again.  We  shall  never  be  able 
to  agree." 

UNSEEN  EVIDENCE. 

The  universe  of  God  is  a  whispering  gallery  where 
nothing  is  lost  out  of  being.  Unseen  evidence  is  kept 
of  all  the  deeds  of  human  life.  After  a  while  the 
books  are  to  be  opened. 

A  very  interesting  telephone  case  was  decided  in 
Sweden.  A  business  man  in  Stockholm,  Mr.  Kugel- 
man,  had  entered  into  a  business  arrangement  with  a 
certain  banker,  the  affair  having  been  arranged  through 
the  medium  of  the  telephone.  As  the  business  did 
not  pay  the  profit  Mr.  Kugelman  expected,  he  abso- 
lutely refused  to  come  to  a  settlement  and  was  conse- 
quently sued  by  the  banker.  When  the  case  appeared 
in  court  the  dealer  insisted  that  the  bank  had  no  writ- 
ten security  from  him,  and  no  witnesses  to  prove  the 
transaction.  It  was,  however,  shown,  to  the  intense 
amusement  of  both  court  and  spectators,  that  the  tele- 
phone at  the  bank  was  provided  with  two  receivers, 
and  everything  transpiring  through  the  telephone 
could  therefore  be  heard  and  legally  proven.  The 
dealer  lost  his  case. 

*'BE  YE  ALSO   READY." 

When  France  declared  war  in  1870,  it  is  said  that 
Von  Moltke  was  awakened  at  night  and  told  of  the 
fact.      He  said   coolly  to  the  oflBcial  who   aroused 


128  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

him :     "  Go  to  pigeon-hole  No ,  in  my  safe,  take 

a  paper  from  it,  and  telegraph  as  there  directed  to  the 
different  troops  of  the  empire."  He  then  turned  over 
and  went  to  sleep,  and  awoke  at  his  accustomed  hour 
in  the  morning.  Every  one  else  in  Berlin  was  very 
much  excited,  but  Von  Moltke  took  his  morning  walk 
as  usual,  and  a  friend  who  met  him  said :  "  General, 
you  seem  to  be  taking  it  very  easy.  Aren't  you  afraid 
of  the  situation?  I  should  think  you  would  be  very 
busy."  "Ah,"  replied  Von  Moltke,  "all  my  work 
for  this  time  has  been  done  long  beforehand,  and 
everything  that  can  be  done  now  has  been  done." 
We  ought  to  live  in  that  attitude  toward  God  and 
man.  Our  Savior  asks  us  to  be  always  ready  for 
any  emergency  that  may  come.  Nothing  could  be 
more  unwise  than  to  put  off  something  which  we  want 
to  change  before  we  die.  If  there  is  anything  that 
must  be  done  before  then,  we  should  do  it  at  once. 
The  consciousness  that  we  are  ready  for  everything 
will  cause  us  to  do  our  work  more  bravely,  and  will 
give  us  peace  as  to  the  future. 

THE   MAGNETISM  OF   A  GREAT   PERSONALITY. 

William  Wetmore  Story  was  fond  of  telling  an  in- 
teresting tale  of  James  Eussell  Lowell  and  himself. 
It  was  when  they  were  young  men,  and  they  were 
very  angry  with  Daniel  Webster  for  staying  in  Tyler's 
cabinet,  and,  as  he  was  to  speak  in  Faneuil  Hall  one 
evening,  they  determined  to  go  in  from  the  Harvard 
Law  School  and  hoot  at  him,  and  show  him  that  he 


THE  LIFE  PLANT.  129 

had  incurred  their  displeasure.  The  house  was  packed 
with  people,  and  the  young  men  felt  sure  that  the 
crowd  would  hoot  with  them,  young  as  they  were. 
But  they  reckoned  without  their  host.  Mr.  Story 
says :  "  Mr.  Webster,  beautifully  dressed,  stepped 
forward.  His  great  eyes  looked,  as  I  shall  always 
think,  straight  at  me.  I  pulled  off  my  hat;  James 
pulled  off  his.  We  both  became  as  cold  as  ice,  and 
as  respectful  as  Indian  coolies.  I  saw  James  turn 
pale;  he  said  I  was  livid.  And  when  the  great  crea- 
ture began  that  most  beautiful  exordium,  our  scorn 
turned  to  deepest  admiration,  from  abject  contempt  to 
belief  and  approbation. "  Christianity  encourages  the 
power  of  individual  personality.  It  is  the  very  es- 
sence of  the  Christian  teaching  that  a  man's  greatness 
does  not  consist  in  what  he  has,  nor  in  his  position, 
but  in  what  he  is.  Men  poor  m  purse,  and  of  no 
physical  p,uthority,  are  often  splendid  in  influence, 
because  of  the  subtle  power  of  character  which  men 
feel  in  their  presence.  Paul  said  his  bodily  presence 
was  insignificant,  but  men  feel  him  yet,  after  all  these 
centuries. 

THE  LIFE  PLANT. 

There  is  a  strange  plant  in  Jamaica  called  the  life- 
plant,  because  it  is  almost  impossible  to  kill  it  or  any 
portion  of  it.  When  a  leaf  is  cut  off  and  hung  up 
by  a  string,  instead  of  shriveling  up  and  dying  like 
other  leaves,  it  sends  out  white,  thread-like  roots, 
gathers  moisture  from  the  air,  and  begins  to  grow  new 
leaves. 

9 


130  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

Christianity  is  the  life-plant  of  the  moral  and  spii- 
itual  world.  Toss  the  Bible  or  a  fragment  of  it  any- 
where, and  it  will  take  root  in  the  affections  and  hopes 
of  mankind  and  send  out  its  tendrils  of  life.  In  the 
heart  of  Africa,  or  among  the  snows  of  the  Arctic,  it 
has  the  same  vitality  which  no  climate  or  heathenism 
has  the  power  to  kill. 

MUST  FACE  HIS  RECORD. 

A  strange  thing  came  to  light  in  the  aftermath  of 
the  Maine  disaster.  Some  years  ago  a  young  man  re- 
siding in  Omaha  became  wild  and  wayward  and  fell 
into  bad  company.  He  went  from  worse  to  worse 
until  he  was  convicted  of  burglary  and  sentenced  to 
fifteen  years  in  the  penitentiary.  Before  being  taken 
to  the  penitentiary  he  escaped  from  the  Omaha  jail, 
made  his  way  to  Boston,  enlisted  in  the  United  States 
navy  under  an  assumed  name,  and  was  assigned  to  the 
Maine.  He  was  among  the  few  survivors  of  the  ex- 
plosion which  destroyed  the  great  battle-ship,  escaping 
with  his  life  tho  severely  wounded.  A  letter  from  him 
to  his  parents  told  of  his  experience  in  the  wreck,  and 
application  was  made  to  the  governor  of  Nebraska  for 
a  pardon.  ISTo  man  can  bury  his  sin.  Somewhere  a 
man  must  face  his  record.  Until  it  is  pardoned  it 
stands  forever  against  him.  Nothing  is  truer  than 
that  the  man  who  covers  his  sins  will  not  prosper,  and 
that  only  through  confession  and  forgiveness  is  there 
safety  and  peace. 


THE  HUMILITY  OF  GREATNESS.  131 

THE  SEEDS  OF  HAPPINESS. 

That  happiness  comes  from  sharing  with  one  another 
rather  than  from  selfishly  hoarding  our  treasiires  is 
suggested  by  a  strange  legend  of  the  peach  that  comes 
from  Japan,  the  Japanese  claiming  to  have  first  dis- 
covered or  utilized  this  fruit :  A  pious  old  couple, 
stricken  with  years  and  poverty,  subsisted  by  beg- 
ging. One  day  in  the  highway  the  woman  found  the 
beautiful  ripe  fruit.  Altho  almost  famished,  she  did 
not  selfishly  eat  the  luscious  peach  alone,  but  took  it 
home  to  divide  it  with  her  husband.  As  the  knife 
cut  into  it,  the  fruit  opened  and  an  infant  sprang 
forth,  who  told  the  astonished  beggars  that  he  was 
the  god  Shin  To,  and  had  accidentally  fallen  from 
the  orchard  in  the  Japanese  heaven  while  at  play 
with  some  qther  gods  and  goddesses.  For  extricating 
him  from  the  peach,  Shin  To  gave  the  Japs  its  seed 
to  plant  and  told  them  its  product  would  make  them 
wealthy.  This,  according  to  the  Japanese,  is  the 
origin  of  the  peach. 

THE  HUMILITY  OF  GREATNESS. 

Humility  belongs  to  true  greatness.  Science  wins 
its  waj'  by  humbly  sitting  at  the  feet  of  nature. 
Man  becomes  great  by  opening  mind  and  heart  with 
the  simplicity  of  a  child  to  win  knowledge  from  all 
quarters. 

Sir  Arthur  Sullivan  has  said  of  Charles  Dickens 
that  he  was  a  most  delightful  companion.     "Apart 


132  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

from  his  high  spirits  and  engaging  manner,"  the  mu- 
sician adds,  "  one  might  have  two  special  reasons  for 
this.  On  the  one  hand  he  was  so  unassuming  he 
never  obtruded  his  own  work  upon  you."  It  is  said 
that  the  great  novelist  would  revel  in  enjoyment  with 
younger  men,  and  one  would  never  have  known  from 
his  conversation  that  he  was  an  author;  that  is,  he 
never  discussed  himself  with  his  associates,  but  he 
gave  himself  up  with  the  most  natural  sincerity  of 
interest  to  the  conversation  of  younger  men.  He 
would  treat  their  feeblest  banalities  as  if  they  were 
the  choicest  witticisms,  or  the  ripe  meditations  of  a 
matured  judgment. 

ENRICHING     OTHERS    WHILE    ENRICHING    OUR- 
SELVES. 

The  death  of  Sir  Henry  Bessemer  called  attention 
to  the  business  career  of  a  man  who  succeeded  in 
making  an  immense  fortune,  and  yet  did  it  in  a  way 
to  bless  everybody  else  in  the  civilized  world.  As 
the  result  of  long  and  laborious  scientific  investigation 
and  experiment  ho  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was 
possible  to  convert  iron  ore  into  steel,  so  that  the  lat- 
ter material  could  be  sold  at  a  mere  fraction  of  its  then 
cost.  The  patents  which  he  took  out  to  cover  his  in- 
vention enabled  him  for  a  series  of  years  to  obtain  a 
royalty  from  the  use  of  his  apparatus,  and  meanwhile 
the  price  of  steel  was  reduced  to  about  one  tenth  of 
its  old  quotations.  While  the  inventor  made  a  great 
fortune,  he  benefited  the  world  many  hundreds  of 


THE  FATE  OF  THE  RECKLESS.  133 

millions  of  dollars  a  year — a  benefit  which  has  Leen 
shared,  both  directly  and  indirectly,  by  every  person 
in  every  civilized  country  on  the  earth.  The  career  of 
this  man  is  a  signal  illustration  of  the  universal  bless- 
ing of  Christian  character.  Every  person  who  finds 
salvation  in  Jesus  Christ  and  enters  into  the  joy  of 
communion  with  God,  not  only  enriches  his  own  soul 
beyond  comparison,  but  enriches  everybody  else  that 
comes  in  contact  with  him.  And  every  sinner  whom 
he  can  lead  into  the  same  blessed  experience  becomes 
endowed  with  spiritual  weahh,  which  also  adds  to  the 
joy  of  the  one  who  won  him  to  Christ. 

THE  FATE  OF  THE  RECKLESS. 

It  is  an  old  saying  that  "  fools  rush  in  where  angels 
fear  to  tread  " ;  the  result  is  usually  disastrous  to  the 
fools.  Many  grasp  at  giddy  ambitions  only  to  be  de- 
stroyed bytheir  successes. 

The  Public  Museum  in  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  has  re- 
ceived as  a  present  the  dead  body  of  a  rare  specimen 
of  the  South  African  baboon.  The  baboon  was  a 
pet  brought  from  Germany  by  a  professional  gentle- 
man of  Milwaukee.  It  was  a  most  intelligent  animal, 
but  its  overweening  curiosity  and  recklessness  in  in- 
vestigating things  led  to  its  death.  It  took  a  great 
interest  in  the  incandescent  electric  lights,  which  were 
out  of  its  reach,  and  would  sit  and  eye  them  some- 
times for  hours.  One  night  it  sprang  upon  the  chan- 
delier and  seized  one  of  the  globes  in  i'ts  mouth.  It 
probably  swallowed  some  of  the  glass,  for  it  was 
taken  ill  immediately  afterward  and  soon  died. 


134  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS, 

THE  OPTIMISM  OF  lESUS. 

How  sublime  the  hopefulness  of  Jesus  Christ,  who 
looks  forward  to  the  time  when  nations  shall  learn 
war  no  more,  and  universal  peace  shall  cover  the 
earth !  A  German  critic  has  been  adding  up  the  grand 
total  of  the  Continental  armies,  and  after  noting  that 
we  can  only  form  a  vague  idea  of  what  is  meant  by- 
tens  of  millions,  he  tries  to  bring  home  to  his  readers 
in  another  way  the  colossal  growth  of  modern  arma- 
ments. If,  he  says,  we  could  have  all  the  armies  of 
the  Continent  on  a  war-footing  drawn  up  in  one  long 
procession,  with  their  guns  and  ammunition  and  bag- 
gage-wagons, the  column  would  be  rather  more  than 
twenty-four  thousand  miles  long,  and,  marching  day 
and  night,  it  would  take  nearly  a  year  to  pass  a  given 
point. 

STORING  UP  POWER, 

It  is  a  great  art  to  know  how  to  use  one's  off-hours 
to  advantage.  Many  men  and  women  store  up  in  the 
leisure  time  from  their  business  reserve  knowledge 
and  strength,  which  can  be  drawn  upon  in  future 
emergencieii.  The  Christian  should  follow  the  exam- 
ple of  Jesus,  who  used  his  quiet  hours  for  prayer  and 
heavenly  meditations  that  fitted  him  to  respond  to 
the  demands  made  on  him  by  the  multitudes. 

One  of  the  most  notable  features  of  the  management 
of  electric-light  stations  during  the  past  few  years  is 
the  introduction  of  storage-batteries.  During  the  day 
the  demand  for  power  is  small,  but  from  dusk  until 


HUMAN  SYMPATHY.  135 

midnight  it  is  very  great.  If  all  the  electricity  ex- 
pended during  the  latter  period  be  obtained  directly 
from  the  dynamos,  both  the  generators  and  steam-en- 
gines must  have  a  greater  capacity  than  would  other- 
wise be  required.  To  meet  this  necessity  a  storage- 
battery  is  added  to  the  plant,  and  this  is  charged  dur- 
ing the  dull  hours  of  business  so  that  at  night  a  part 
of  the  supply  can  be  taken  from  the  accumulators  and 
only  a  part  need  to  be  generated  by  the  dynamos. 

HUMAN  SYMPATHY. 

The  need  of  human  sympathy  and  fellowship  is 
universal.  There  must  be  something  very  warped 
and  wrong  about  any  man  or  woman  who  does  not 
feel  the  need  of  kindly  fellowship  with  their  fellows. 
The  Christian  Church  needs  to  meet  this  demand  of 
human  nature  to  the  utmost  extent. 

Some  peculiarities  of  the  Esquimaux  herders  em- 
ployed in  Alaska  by  the  United  States  Government  to 
take  care  of  the  reindeer  herd  have  recently  been  dis- 
cussed in  government  circles,  as  an  outlay  of  money 
was  involved.  Special  reference  was  made  to  the 
matter  of  employing  two  herders  where  one  would 
have  been  sufficient,  as  in  the  matter  of  watching  the 
herd  of  reindeer  through  the  night.  On  investigation 
it  was  found  that  the  Esquimaux  are  afraid  of  the 
darkness,  which  is  more  intense  than  that  of  the  long 
polar  night,  and  one  would  not  watch  alone.  These 
men  are  truly  children  of  nature,  as  they  prefer  to  tell 
the  time  by  the  big  dipper,  deeming  that  to  be  the 
most  reliable  clock  in  the  universe. 


136  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 


LAYING  BY  FOR  THE  FUTURE. 

God  has  put  the  spirit  of  providence  into  the  brains 
of  all  his  creatures.  It  is  one  of  the  first  duties  of 
human  life  to  store  up  food  both  for  body  and  soul. 
An  improvident  life  is  a  wicked  life. 

In  Mexico  there  lives  a  woodpecker  which  stores 
his  nuts  and  acorns  in  the  hollow  stalks  of  the  yuccas 
and  magueys.  These  hollow  stalks  are  separated  by 
joints  into  several  cavities,  and  the  sagacious  bird  has 
somehow  found  this  out,  and  bores  a  hole  at  the  upper 
end  of  each  joint,  and  another  at  the  lower,  through 
which  to  extract  the  acorns  when  wanted.  Then  it 
fills  up  the  stalks  solidly,  and  leaves  its  stores  there 
until  needed,  safe  from  the  depredations  of  any  other 
thievish  bird  or  four-footed  animal.  A  recent  ob- 
server noticed  this  curious  habit  on  a  hill  in  the  midst 
of  a  desert.  The  hill  was  covered  with  yuccas  and 
magueys,  but  the  nearest  oak-trees  were  thirty  miles 
away ;  so  this  industrious  bird  had  to  make  a  flight  of 
sixty  miles  for  each  acorn  stored  thus  in  the  stalks. 

LOSING  BY  DISHONESTY. 

In  spite  of  all  the  fun  and  criticism  that  have  been 
hurled  at  the  old  proverb  written  at  the  top  of  the 
copybooks  a  generation  ago — "  Honesty  is  the  best 
policy" — I  still  maintain  that  it  is  true  that  honesty 
is  not  only  the  best  as  a  principle,  but  as  a  policy  as 
well. 

A  Philadelphia  man  lived  ten  years   in   a  house 


LOSING  BY  DISHONESTY.  137 

for  which  he  paid  no  rent  and  no  taxes.  It  belonged 
to  the  gas  company,  and  he  had  paid  rent  regu- 
larly until  the  property  of  the  company  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  city.  He  says  himself:  "I  don't 
remember  how  long  it  is  since  I  stopped  paying  rent. 
It  was  when  the  gas-office  was  on  Seventh  Street.  I 
went  there  one  day  with  my  rent,  and  offered  it  to 
Mr.  White,  who  had  charge  of  the  gas  company's 
real  estate,  but  he  refused  to  take  it  and  told  me  that 
it  was  to  be  paid  at  the  city  treasurer's  office  in  the 
future.  I  took  it  up  there,  and  a  young  man  there 
said  he  could  not  take  it,  as  he  couldn't  find  record  of 
any  such  house.  He  told  me  that  they  would  notify 
me  when  they  were  ready  to  take  my  money.  I  went 
back  to  Mr.  White,  and  he  advised  me  to  go  home 
and  wait  until  I  heard  from  them.  Well,  I  waited. 
Nobody  came  to  collect  the  money  until  recently, 
when  the  city  discovered  its  title  and  sent  a  man  to 
collect."  The  tenant  got  a  day  to  consider,  and 
promptly  skipped.  But  his  experience  with  a  free 
rent  does  not  seem  to  be  satisfactory,  if  we  may  trust 
his  wife.  "Yes,"  says  she,  resentiully,  "he  thought 
it  was  a  snap,  and  look  where  he  is  now — no  money, 
no  business,  looking  for  a  job,  and  a  family  to  sup- 
port. He  wouldn't  take  my  advice,  and  move  where 
business  is  good,  but  he  hugged  his  snap  and  stuck 
there  in  that  stagnant  neighborhood  and  spent  his 
money  on  repairs  for  the  house,  and  didn't  make  any 
money. " 


138  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 


THE  LIGHT  IN  THE   WINDOW. 

Wheu  Edward  Dunbar  was  a  small  boy  he  lived  in 
New  Bedford,  Mass.,  and  worked  m  a  factory.  His 
mother  lived  at  the  foot  of  the  street  on  which  the 
factory  was  located,  and  as  the  lad's  work  kept  him 
away  till  after  dark,  she  always  placed  a  light  in  the 
window  to  guide  his  footsteps  homeward.  One  day 
the  boy  took  a  notion  to  go  to  sea,  and  off  he  went  for 
a  three  years'  cruise.  During  his  absence  his  mother 
fell  ill,  and  was  at  death's  door.  She  talked  inces- 
santly about  her  boy,  and  every  night  she  asked  those 
around  her  to  place  a  light  in  the  window  in  anticipa- 
tion of  his  return.  When  she  realized  that  the  end 
had  come,  she  said :  "  Tell  Edward  that  I  will  put  a 
light  in  the  window  of  heaven  for  him."  These  were 
her  last  words.  The  lad  had  grown  to  manhood  ere 
he  returned  home,  and  his  mother's  dying  message 
had  such  an  effect  upon  him  that  he  reformed.  In 
the  course  of  his  reformation  he  wrote  the  song: 
"There's  a  Light  in  the  Window  for  Thee,  Brother." 
This  hymn  has  done  a  great  deal  of  good,  and  has  no 
doubt  led  many  people  to  see  the  light  in  the  window 
of  heaven  for  them.  The  sad  part  of  the  story  is 
that  Dunbar  himself  fell  into  sin  again,  and  became  a 
poor  vagabond  upon  the  face  of  the  earth.  He  died 
in  jail  where  he  had  begged  lodgings  in  a  Kansas 
town,  and  some  Christian  people  erected  a  marble 
slab  over  his  grave,  on  which  these  words  were  in- 
scribed:    "Here   lies    Edward    Dunbar,   who  wrote 


THE  POWER  OF  A  FREE  SPIRIT.         139 

'There's  a  Light  in  the  Window  for  Thee,  Brother,'" 
It  is  not  enough  that  we  see  the  light  and  turn  toward 
it,  we  must  endure  patiently  unto  the  end.  The  crown 
is  promised  to  the  man  who  overcomes.  "  Hold  fast 
that  thou  hast,  that  no  man  take  thy  crown." 

THE  POWER  OF  A  FREE  SPIRIT. 

A  fearless  soul  that  is  free  and  untrammeled  in 
thought  and  movement  counts  for  a  great  deal  more 
than  a  much  weightier  personality  that  is  fettered  by 
conventionalities. 

In  a  great  bird-store  where  there  are  hundreds  of 
birds  of  many  kinds  incessantly  squawking,  chirping, 
and  singing,  there  is  often  one  that  is  free — a  tiny 
titmouse.  It  flits  about  the  store  at  will.  If  it  wants 
a  drink,  it  perches  on  the  rim  of  a  goldfish  globe,  no 
doubt  to  the  great  surprise  of  the  goldfishes,  and  cer- 
tainly to  that  of  the  human  beholders,  who  wonder 
that  it  doesn't  fall  in,  it  has  to  bend  over  so  far  to 
reach  the  water.  There  is  not  a  cage  in  the  store  into 
which  the  titmouse  does  not  dare  to  go.  It  goes  in 
and  out  of  all  the  larger  cages  with  perfect  ease.  It 
never  hesitates  to  go  through  the  bars  of  the  cage  im- 
prisoning the  Grossest  parrot.  As  the  titmouse  flies 
through  these  cages,  stopping  in  each,  perhaps,  to  eat 
of  the  parrots'  food,  they  never  molest  it.  Parrots 
that  would  bite  at  the  finger  of  a  man  who  should  put 
his  hand  near  enough  to  the  outside  of  their  cage, 
stand  back  in  fright  or  amazement  when  the  little  tit- 
mouse bravely  dashes  in,  and  perches  on  their  feed- 
cups. 


140  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 


SAVING  BY  GIVING. 

The  taunt  which  the  mob  flung  at  Christ  on  the 
cross,  "  He  saved  others ;  himself  he  can  not  save, " 
had  in  it  a  vein  of  eternal  truth  which  is  often  illus- 
trated. In  the  town  of  Sing  Sing  a  young  man  was 
walking  on  the  street  with  a  little  girl  of  twelve  years, 
when  the  child  suddenly  screamed.  The  man  saw  a 
wire  hanging  from  a  pole,  and  discovered  that  it  had 
pressed  against  the  lip  of  the  little  girl  and  burned 
her.  He  grasped  the  wire  in  his  hand  to  pull  it  away 
from  the  girl,  and  saved  her  life,  but  almost  immedi- 
ately dropped  dead. 

TRUST  NOT  THE  ENEMY'S   MUSIC. 

It  is  never  safe  to  receive  favors  from  an  enemy. 
Many  Christians  have  learned  by  sad  experience  that 
the  enemy  of  their  souls  never  bestow  gifts  upon  the 
children  of  God  without  intending  to  work  them  harm. 

In  1812  a  British  gunboat  was  lying  near  the  shore 
of  Mathews  County,  Virginia.  A  young  boy  who 
hated  the  British  found  a  nest  of  wasps  one  day,  and, 
securely  plugging  up  the  entrances  with  mud,  he  cut 
the  limb  to  which  it  adhered,  and  carried  the  trophy 
on  board  the  gunboat,  to  show  it  to  the  crew.  The 
curiosity  of  the  crew  was  at  once  excited,  and  they 
wanted  to  know  what  it  was.  "A  hummingbird's 
nest,"  said  the  boy.  "  Don't  you  hear  them  inside?" 
The  crew  listened  and  could  hear  the  indignant  wasps 
keeping  up  a  lively  noise.     The  boy  was  invited  be- 


WHERE  THE  RESPONSIBILITY  RESTS.     141 

low,  and  to  show  his  goodwill  made  the  boat  a  present 
of  the  nest,  cautioning  the  crew,  however,  not  to  let 
the  birds  out  then,  as  they  would  follow  him  ashore. 
The  crew  waited  until  the  boy  had  gained  the  shore, 
then  took  out  the  plugs,  and  the  wasps  at  once  pro- 
ceeded to  business.  They  never  stopped  work  until 
they  had  made  every  one  of  the  crew  take  to  the 
water.  The  men  searched  the  country  for  the  boy, 
and  his  fate  would  have  been  sad  indeed  if  they  had 
captured  him. 

WHERE  THE  RESPONSIBILITY  RESTS. 

During  the  rebellion  Congressman  Dixoa,  of  Rhode 
Island,  was  sent  to  represent  a  meeting  of  the  gov- 
ernors of  the  Northern  States,  to  confer  with  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  and  urge  upon  him  a  more  vigorous  policy 
in  the  conduct  of  the  war.  Mr.  Lincoln  listened  to 
all  that  Mr.  Dixon  had  to  say,  and  then  replied: 
"  Dixon,  you  are  a  good  fellow,  and  I  have  always 
had  a  high  opinion  of  you.  It  is  needless  for  me  to 
add  tnat  what  comes  from  those  who  sent  you  here  is 
authoritative.  Still,  in  justice  to  myself,  you  must 
remember  that  Abraham  Lincoln  is  the  President  of 
the  United  States.  Anything  that  the  President 
of  the  United  States  does,  right  or  wrong,  will  be  the 
act  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  and  Abraham  Lincoln  will 
by  the  people  be  held  responsible  for  the  President's 
action.  But  I  have  a  proposition  to  make  to  you. 
Go  home  and  think  the  matter  over.  Come  to  me  to- 
morrow morning  at  nine  o'clock  and  I  will  promise  to 


142  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

do  anything  that  you,  by  then,  have  determined  upon 
as  the  right  and  proper  thing  to  do.  Good-night." 
Mr.  Dixon  left  the  White  House  feeling  very  large 
and  important.  He  set  himself  to  work  to  decide  the 
policy  of  the  President  of  the  United  States.  Many 
suggestions  occurred  to  him,  but,  one  after  another, 
each  was  dismissed  as  for  some  reason  out  of  the  ques- 
tion. He  worked  at  it  all  night,  but  was  just  as  un- 
decided in  the  morning  as  to  the  policy  he  was  to 
impose  upon  the  President.  He  did  not  go  to  the 
White  House  that  morning.  Indeed,  three  weeks 
went  by  before  he  saw  the  President.  Then  it  was 
at  a  reception  at  Secretary  Seward's,  and  Mr.  Dixon 
tried  to  get  by  in  the  crowd  without  attracting  atten- 
tion. But  the  long  arm  of  the  President  shot  out, 
caught  Dixon  and  drew  him  to  one  side.  "  By  the 
way,  Dixon,"  said  Mr.  Lincoln,  "I  believe  I  had  an 
appointment  with  you  one  morning  about  three  weeks 
ago."  Mr.  Dixon  said  he  did  recall  something  of  the 
sort.  "  Where  have  you  been  all  these  weeks?"  asked 
the  President.  "Here  in  Washington,"  said  Mr. 
Dixon ;  "  but  to  tell  the  truth,  Mr.  President,  I  have 
decided  never  to  keep  that  appointment. "  "  I  thought 
you  would  not  when  I  made  it  for  you,"  was  Mr.  Lin- 
coln's comment.  No  man  can  escape  the  responsibil- 
ity of  his  own  conduct.  Every  individual  soul  is  as 
responsible  to  God  for  what  he  does  as  is  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States.  A  man  must  stand  or  fall 
on  his  own  choice,  and  his  own  conduct.  He  can  not 
excuse  himself  by  shifting  the  responsibility  upon 
somebody  else. 


HOLD  FAST  TO  THY  CROWN.  143 


DESTINY  HANGING  ON  HUMBLE  HONESTY. 

The  world  is  such  a  network  of  influences  that  the 
humblest  human  worker  can  not  be  regarded  as  unim- 
portant. The  life  of  the  richest  or  most  powerful 
citizen  in  the  land  may  depend  at  any  moment  on  the 
fidelity  with  which  some  unknown  worker  has  per- 
formed his  duty. 

The  P.  &  0.  steamer  Kaiser-i-Hind  was  nearly 
lost  in  a  typhoon  off  the  Paracels.  Perhaps  no 
steamer  ever  lived  through  a  more  terrific  storm. 
She  was  often  in  great  danger.  Huge  seas  swept 
the  quarter-deck  aft,  gutting  the  cabins  and  flooding 
the  saloon.  The  bridge  was  wrecked,  navigation  and 
steering  having  co  be  done  from  the  hurricane-deck. 
All  the  boats,  one  after  another,  were  carried  away, 
many  of  th^  davits  being  snapped  off  like  carrots. 
Her  salvation  depended  on  everything  going  right  in 
the  engine-room.  The  smallest  breakdown  in  the 
engines  would  have  meant  certain  destruction.  A 
flaw  in  the  shaft,  a  rotten  nut  even,  the  least  imper- 
fection due  to  dishonest  work,  and  there  would  have 
been  another  disaster  to  record,  a  disaster  as  appalling 
as  the  wreck  of  the  Bokhara,  a  disaster  like  the  loss 
of  the  Aden — unlike  these  only  in  that  there  would 
have  been  no  survivor  to  tell  the  tale. 

HOLD  FAST  TO  THY  CROWN. 

We  are  urged  in  the  New  Testament  to  let  no  one 
take  our  crown,  and  every  sincere  disciple  of  Christ 


144  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

may  make  sure  of  a  crown  of  lif-a  that  shall  never  fade 
away.  Ours  is  an  imperishable  crown,  and  we  are  not 
put  in  the  position  of  some  of  the  crown-chasers  of 
the  Old  World. 

The  young  Due  d'Orleans  is  said  never  to  miss  a 
chance  to  bring  his  name  before  the  French  people. 
After  his  marriage  he  held  an  imitation  royal  court  in 
Brussels.  On  that  occasion  his  wife,  formerly  Maria 
Dorothea,  Archduchess  of  Austria,  wore  a  jeweled 
crown  presented  by  the  "women  of  France."  In 
reality  it  represented  the  tribute  of  certain  royalist 
families  of  the  " Faubourg  St.  Germain."  After  the 
Brussels  function  this  crown  was  placed  on  exhibition 
in  the  window  of  a  Parisian  jeweler  who  made  it. 
This  young  candidate  for  the  throne  then  conceived 
another  advertisement.  He  had  a  distinguished 
sculptor  make  a  bust  of  himself,  and  cheap  reproduc- 
tions of  these  were  put  on  sale  in  the  store  windows 
in  Paris.  And  so  the  farce  goes  on,  to  the  amuse- 
ment of  republican  France. 

COMING  INTO  THE  HARBOR. 

Human  life  is  often  compared  to  a  voyage.  It  is 
perhaps  as  apt  a  figure  as  could  be  used.  Strong 
character  can  only  be  built  up  through  battling  with 
the  waves.  It  is  a  glorious  thing  to  make  the  harbor 
of  a  successful  life  in  the  teeth  of  the  gale. 

A  splendid  sight  was  witnessed  from  the  Golden 
Gate,  off  San  Francisco,  one  evening.  There  had 
been  a  great  storm  outside,  and  beginning  seven  miles 


OVERREACHING    GREED.  145 

off  shore  the  whitecaps  could  be  seen  rushing  shore- 
ward, and  by  the  time  they  reached  the  Seal  Kocks 
they  had  grown  into  overwhelming  billows  that  rose 
fully  thirty  feet  above  the  largest  rocks  and  dashed 
their  spray  to  the  second  balcony  of  the  Cliff  House. 
Enormous  breakers  would  wash  over  the  highest  Seal 
Kock,  and  submerge  the  herd  of  seals  that  had  climbed 
to  the  topmost  point  for  protection  against  the  heavy 
waves.  Even  the  birds  were  driven  inland,  finding 
no  foothold  on  the  rocks,  and  being  unable  to  rest 
upon  the  water  even  inside  the  little  channel  between 
the  shore  and  the  home  of  the  seals.  But  despite  the 
war  of  the  elements,  the  white  sails  of  ships  and  trail- 
ing smoke  of  steamers  came  out  of  the  misty  distance, 
and  steadily  battled  toward  the  entrance  to  the  har- 
bor. At  first  it  was  difficult  to  distinguish  between 
white-capped  wave  and  glistening  sail,  but  as  the  ves- 
sels came  iji  with  all  canvas  set,  they  presented  such 
pictures  as  are  never  seen  on  painters'  walls,  for  the 
lights  and  shades,  the  colors  and  tones,  the  tints  and 
multichromes,  were  such  as  no  human  mind  could 
invent,  and  no  mortal  hand  could  arrange. 

OVERREACHING  GREED. 

Greed  among  human  beings  often  overreaches  itself 
and  fails  of  its  object  as  certainly  as  among  humbler 
creatures. 

A  young  naturalist,  residing  in  Eockland,  Me., 
tells  of  an  incident  he  witnessed  which  shows  the  in- 
telligence of  our  feathered  friends,  the  birds.  Four 
10 


146  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

young  swallows  were  sitting  on  a  fence.  The  old 
bird  was  circling  around  in  the  air  catching  flies  for 
them,  and  every  few  minutes  she  would  come  and 
feed  them  with  a  juicy  fly,  beginning  at  the  right- 
hand  bird,  which  we  will  call  No.  1,  and  continuing  on 
to  the  next,  feeding  each  bird  and  departing  to  catch 
more.  The  little  birds  looked  as  much  alike  as  four 
peas,  and  the  young  man  could  not  distinguish  one 
from  another.  But  the  mobher  bird  could.  While 
she  was  pursuing  flies,  No.  4  climbed  over  No.  3,  thus 
making  himself  the  third  in  rank,  evidently  expect- 
ing his  turn  would  come  sooner.  But  the  scheme  did 
not  work,  for  when  his  mother  came  back  with  more 
flies  she  skipped  this  wily  youngster — he  got  none; 
the  next  time  he  got  fed.  Then  he  tried  the  trick 
again,  jumping  over  one  more  and  becoming  No.  2; 
but  again  he  failed,  for  the  old  bird  fed  the  one  whose 
place  he  had  usurped. 

MASTERING  ONE'S  BUSINESS. 

There  is  a  vast  difference  between  the  man  who  fol- 
lows his  business  with  a  servile  feeling,  giving  just 
as  little  attention  to  it  as  he  can  and  yet  obtain  a 
living  from  it,  and  the  man  who  masters  his  business, 
and  with  enthusiasm  seeks  to  improve  it  and  ennoble 
it.  John  Curzon,  a  Polish  mechanic,  who  was 
presented  with  a  gold  medal  for  his  inventions,  per- 
formed a  most  extraordinary  thing  when  he  suc- 
ceeded in  manufacturing  a  complete  watch  in  the  space 
of  eight  hours,  and  from  materials  on  which  most 


BUILDING  ON  THE  ROCK.  147 

watchmakers  would  have  looked  with  contempt.  It 
appears  that  the  Czar  pf  Russia,  hearing  of  the  mar- 
velous skill  of  Curzon,  determined  to  put  him  to  the 
test,  and  forwarded  him  a  box  containing  a  few  cop- 
per nails,  some  wood  chippings,  a  piece  of  broken 
glass,  an  old  cracked  china  cup,  some  wire,  and  a  few 
cribbage-board  pegs,  with  the  request  that  he  should 
transform  them  into  a  timepiece.  Nothing  daunted, 
and  perceiving  a  golden  opportunity  of  winning  favor 
at  the  court,  Curzon  set  about  his  task  with  enthusi- 
asm, and  in  the  almost  incredibly  short  space  of  eight 
hours  had  despatched  a  wonderfully  constructed  watch 
to  the  Czar,  who  was  so  surprised  and  delighted  at  the 
work  that  he  sent  for  the  maker,  conferred  upon  him 
several  distinctions,  and  granted  him  a  pension.  The 
case  of  the  watch  was  made  of  china,  while  the  works 
were  simply  composed  of  the  odds  and  ends  accom- 
panying the  old  cup.  Not  only  did  it  keep  good  time, 
but  only  required  winding  once  in  three  or  four  days. 

BUILDING  ON  THE  ROCK. 

The  most  costly  little  stretch  of  roadbed  for  a  rail- 
road in  any  country  is  said  to  be  on  the  Carbond.ale 
division  of  the  Erie  Railroad,  at  Ararat  Summit.  It 
is  only  a  quarter  of  a  mile  long,  but  it  cost  nearly 
1300,000  to  get  the  track  ready  for  the  rails.  The 
railroad  was  completed  in  1875,  and  trains  had  passed 
over  it ;  but  one  night  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  the  track 
and  roadbed  disappeared  entirely  and  a  great  quag- 
mire occupied  the  place  where  apparently  solid  ground 


148  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

had  been  before.  Into  this  pit  ten  thousand  carloads 
of  gravel  and  five  hundred  large  hemlock  trees  were 
thrown  without  having  any  perceptible  effect  toward 
forming  a  bottom  on  which  a  new  roadbel  could  be 
founded.  They  finally  found  solid  rock  one  hundred 
and  sixty  feet  below  the  surface,  and  made  a  founda- 
tion by  driving  four  piles,  each  forty  feet  long,  one 
on  top  of  another.  It  took  fifteen  hundred  trees  and 
a  whole  hill  of  gravel  to  make  the  solid  bed.  Multi- 
tudes of  souls  are  making  the  fearful  blunder  of  build- 
ing their  hopes  of  happiness  on  the  sand  or  on  a  quag- 
mire. Only  the  Eock  of  Ages  can  give  permanent 
foundation.  Those  who  build  on  Christ  shall  never 
be  put  to  confusion. 

THE  WATER  OF  LIITE. 

The  Christian  life  is  an  evergreen  because  the  foun- 
tain of  life,  ever  springing  up  in  the  soil,  feeds  the 
roots  of  hope  and  defies  the  withering  influences  of 
age.  Only  those  who  have  Christ's  well-springs  in 
their  hearts  can  look  forward  to  a  life  ever  fresh  and 
green. 

A  recent  traveler  declares  that  nothing  could  be 
more  striking  than  the  contrast  in  Central  Australia 
between  the  dry  and  the  wet  seasons.  In  the  former, 
one  travels  mile  after  mile  over  bare,  stony  plains, 
with  scarcely  a  sign  of  plant  or  animal  life.  The  sun 
beats  down  hotly  on  shining  fields  of  brown  and  pur- 
ple stones.  But  when  the  rains  begin,  within  a  few 
hours  the  whole  scene  is  changed.     The  water  haa 


WARMTH  AT  THE  HEART.  149 

loosened  the  hard  ground  and  countless  animals  have 
appeared.  Clay  pans  and  water-holes  are  noisy  with 
the  croaking  of  frogs;  crustaceans  hatch  out  with 
wonderful  rapidity  from  eggs  which  have  lain  on  the 
dry  ground  for,  it  may  be,  many  months;  small  mol- 
lusks  buried  in  clay  are  released,  and  every  inhabitant 
of  land  and  water  sets  to  work  to  make  the  best  of  his 
short  life.  The  ground,  within  a  day  or  two,  is  green 
with  the  leaves  of  countless  seedlings,  which  grow 
rapidly;  birds  appear  as  if  by  magic,  and  the  once 
dry  and  silent  country  is  now  bright  with  flowers  and 
foliage  and  animals,  all  decked  out  in  their  liveliest 
colors. 

WARMTH  AT   THE  HEART. 

If  a  man's  heart  is  warm  with  love  to  God  and  his 
fellow  man,  it  will  show  itself  in  the  wells  of  daily 
life,  for  oiit  of  the  abundance  of  the  heart  the  mouth 
speaketh. 

The  wells  along  a  defined  line  to  the  south  and  west 
of  Phoenix,  Ariz.,  within  a  week  became  prodiicers  of 
hot  water,  and  apprehensions  were  felt  by  many  of 
the  residents  of  the  region  affected  that  they  were 
about  to  become  participants  in  a  grand  volcanic 
drama.  In  some  of  the  wells  the  temperature  of  the 
water  rose  twenty  degrees  in  a  single  night.  In  a 
few,  the  phenomenon  disappeared  soon  after  its  ap- 
pearance. In  a  majority  of  the  cases,  however,  the 
wells  fairly  steamed  from  their  newly  acquired  heat. 
A  test  at  one  well  showed  a  temperature  of  nearly  one 
hundred  degrees. 


150  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

INDIVIDUALITY. 

A  man  is  often  despoiled  of  his  greatest  possibili- 
ties by  the  loss  of  bis  individuality.  It  is  only  now 
and  then  that  there  is  a  man  or  woman  strong  enough 
to  resist  the  fetters  which  conventionalism  would  put 
on  them.  This  is  clearly  brought  out  in  an  amusing 
story  from  Spurgeon's  autobiography :  "  There  was 
an  amusing  incident  in  my  early  Waterbeach  minis- 
try, which  I  have  never  forgotten.  One  day  a  gen- 
tleman, who  was  then  mayor  of  Cambridge,  and  who 
had  more  than  once  tried  to  correct  my  youthful  mis- 
takes, asked  me  if  I  had  really  told  my  congregation 
that,  if  a  thief  got  in  heaven,  he  would  begin  picking 
the  angels'  pockets.  'Yes,  sir,'  I  replied,  'I  told 
them  that,  if  it  were  possible  for  an  ungodly  man  to 
go  to  heaven  without  having  his  nature  changed,  he 
would  be  none  the  better  for  being  there,  and  then, 
by  way  of  illustration,  I  said  that,  were  a  thief  to  get 
in  among  the  glorified,  he  would  remain  a  thief  still, 
and  would  go  round  the  place  picking  the  angels' 
pockets!'  'But,  my  dear  young  friend,'  asked  Mr. 
Brimley,  very  seriously,  'don't  you  know  that  the 
angels  haven't  any  pockets?  '  'No,  sir,'  I  replied, 
with  equal  gravity,  '  I  did  not  know  thatj  but  I  am 
glad  to  be  assured  of  the  fact  from  a  gentleman  who 
does  know.  I  will  take  care  to  put  it  all  right  the 
first  opportunity  I  get.'  The  following  Monday 
morning  I  walked  vip  to  Mr.  Brimley 's  shop  and  said 
to  him,  *1  set  that  matter  right  yesterday,  sir.' 
'What  matter?'     he   inquired.      'Why,     about    the 


LOSING  SPIRITUAL  TREASURE.  151 

angels'  pockets! '  *  What  did  you  say?  '  lie  asked,  iu 
a  tone  almost  of  despair  at  what  he  might  hear  next. 
'Oh,  sir,  I  just  told  the  people  I  was  sorry  to  say  that 
I  had  made  a  mistake  the  last  time  I  preached  to 
them ;  but  that  I  had  met  a  gentleman — the  mayor 
of  Cambridge — who  had  assured  me  that  the  angels 
had  no  pockets,  so  I  must  correct  what  I  have  said, 
as  I  did  not  want  anybody  to  go  away  with  a  false 
notion  about  heaven.  I  would,  therefore,  say  that  if 
a  thief  got  among  the  angels  without  having  his  nature 
changed,  he  would  try  to  steal  the  feathers  out  of  their 
wings! '  '  Surely  you  did  not  say  that?'  said  Mr. 
Brimley.  '  I  did,  tho, '  I  replied.  '  Then, '  he  ex- 
claimed, '  I'll  never  try  to  set  you  right  again ' — 
which  was  just  exactly  what  I  wanted  him  to  say." 


LOSING  SPIRITUAL  TREASURE  THROUGH 
WORLDLINESS. 

Christ  declares  that  where  one's  treasure  is  there 
the  heart  will  be  also.  We  can  not  at  the  same  time 
serve  God  and  Mammon.  Many  times,  without  in- 
tending it,  the  Christian  loses  the  sweetest  treasure 
of  his  spiritual  life  by  being  drawn  away  by  the  things 
of  the  world.  A  young  lady  in  Kansas  City  lost  the 
gold  ring  which  had  been  given  to  her  by  her  husband 
at  the  time  they  became  engaged.  She  advertised  for 
the  trinket,  and  offered  rewards  greatly  in  excess  of 
its  value,  but  with  no  result.  Some  time  after  another 
lady  went  into  a  store  and  commenced  to  try  on  kid 
gloves.     Her  surprise  may  be  imagined  when,  in  re- 


152  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

moving  a  glove  from  her  hand,  she  found  a  strange 
gold  ring  upon  one  of  her  fingers.  The  ring  was  en- 
graved "From  Willis  to  Emma,"  and  was  at  once 
recognized  as  the  one  lost  by  her  friend,  who  had 
been  trying  on  gloves  in  the  same  store,  and  left  the 
ring  in  the  glove  when  withdrawing  her  hand. 

THE  LOVE  OF  THE  LOWLY. 

Only  those  who  have  worked  with  unselfish  devo- 
tion for  the  uplift  of  the  very  poor  and  friendless 
know  what  a  real  fountain  of  love  the  human  heart 
is.  This  is  beautifully  illustrated  in  the  interest 
which  was  taken  in  the  illness  of  Mrs.  Ballington 
Booth.  In  Commander  Booth's  mail  one  day  was  a 
letter  from  a  man  who  was  in  the  "  condemned  cell  "  at 
Sing  Sing.  He  said :  "  I  do  not  belong  to  the  Volun- 
teer Prison  League.  I  am  not  even  converted,  but 
your  wife's  presence  here  has  transformed  this  place 
in  such  a  way  that  I  feel  good  in  spite  of  myself. 
When  I  heard  she  was  going  to  die,  I  wanted  to  pray, 
and  now  that  the  warden  has  told  me  she  will  get  bet- 
ter, my  heart  is  so  full  of  joy  that  I  can  die  in  peace." 

A  WOLF  IN   SHEEP'S  CLOTHING. 

A  man  may  for  a  time  hide  a  vicious  nature  under- 
neath a  pleasing  and  even  virtuous  exterior,  but  in  the 
long  run  the  inner  viciousness  will  disclose  itself  and 
bring  upon  him  the  shame  and  disgrace  which  he  de- 
serves. 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  "  THIRSTLAND."        153 

A  professor  in  a  Bulgarian  college  took  his  class  for 
an  excursion  into  the  neighboring  mountains.  As  the 
students  were  eating  luncheon  they  were  attacked  by 
a  band  of  brigands.  The  son  of  a  rich  merchant  alone 
was  held  captive  for  ransom.  The  others  were  told  to 
return  to  their  homes  and  have  the  father  of  the  pris- 
oner return,  unaccompanied,  the  next  morning  with 
the  amount  of  the  ransom.  He  came,  but  closely  fol- 
lowing was  a  brigade  of  soldiers,  which  surrounded 
and  captured  the  entire  band.  The  brigands  were 
tried,  and  three  of  them  were  condemned  to  death. 
This  was  more  than  they  had  expected,  and  the  trio 
made  a  confession,  which  was  afterward  verified,  that 
the  professor,  who  in  former  years  had  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  band,  had  planned  the  capture  of  the  mer- 
chant's son,  and  was  to  have  had  a  share  of  the  ran- 
som for  his  well-played  plot. 

THE  TRAGEDY  OF  "  THIRSTLAND." 

The  last  work  executed  by  the  great  artist  Millais 
is  called  "The  Last  Trek,"  and  the  original  is  in 
black  and  white.  It  is  considered  one  of  Millais' 
masterpieces  and  a  complete  evidence  of  his  genius, 
for  in  its  simple  lines  is  everything  that  goes  to  make 
up  sublime  pathos  and  consummate  art.  The  story  is 
a  common  one  among  the  pioneers  of  Africa.  A 
white  hunter  who  had  braved  the  blasts  of  the  desert 
and  the  perils  of  the  hunting  veldt  for  many  a  season, 
at  last  falls  a  victim  to  the  poisonous  climate  of  the 
African  spring,  and  is  seen  dying  in  a  lonely  "  Thirst- 


164  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

land,"  tended  to  the  last  by  his  faithful  Zulus,  whose 
love  for  their  master  is  that  of  children  toward  a 
father.  The  scene  is  laid  far  away,  where  the  foot 
of  white  man  never  trod  before,  and  one  sees  even 
the  game  pause  to  gaze  at  the  strange  figures  and 
their  surroundings.  The  tragedy  of  the  Thirstland 
of  South  Africa  portrayed  in  this  picture  suggests  the 
many  tragedies  in  the  Thirstland  of  worldliness,  where 
souls  are  dying,  untended  and  uncared  for,  for  lack  of 
the  Water  of  Life. 


GROWING  SWEETER  WITH  AGE. 

Old  violins  in  general  produce  their  tones  with  much 
less  effort  on  the  part  of  the  player  than  is  necessary 
for  new  ones.  In  the  latter  are  a  certain  stiffness 
and  a  lack  of  ready  response  which  wear  away  slowly 
with  time  and  use.  Long-sustained  tones  from  a  new 
violin  may  sound  quite  as  well  as  from  an  old  one,  but 
when  rapid  runs  and  chords  are  played  the  superiority 
of  the  mature  instrument  is  very  evident  to  the  lis- 
tener. The  tones  of  all  violins  become  mellower  with 
age  and  use.  When  new  they  have  a  certain  thick- 
ness or  woodiness  of  tone,  which,  in  most  of  them, 
degenerates  into  an  actual  harshness,  but  which,  in 
the  best  ones,  is  so  slight  as  to  be  detected  only  by 
those  who  are  accustomed  to  hearing  high-class  old 
instruments.  Where  this  woodiness  is  very  marked 
the  violin  seems  to  the  player  to  have  a  very  power- 
ful tone,  but  to  the  listener  stationed  at  a  little  dis- 
tance the  tone  may  sound  very  weak.     Stiff-toned, 


COMMUNION  WITH  GOD.  165 

heavily  wooded  instruments  are  usually  the  most 
harsh  and  raw  in  tone  when  new,  and  it  takes  these  a 
longer  time  than  more  thinly  wooded  ones  to  acquire 
mellowness  of  tone.  The  human  heart  is  like  a  vio- 
lin. When  taken  up  with  the  things  of  the  world  it 
has  a  worldly  tone  that  may  sound  very  strong  and 
splendid  to  the  player  (that  is,  the  man  himself),  but 
people  who  look  on  feel  discord.  Our  hearts  ought 
to  be  like  violins  in  that  they  grow  mellower  and 
sweeter  in  tone  with  age.  An  old  man  or  woman 
whose  heart  becomes  mellow  with  heavenly  notes  as 
the  end  of  the  journey  draws  near,  is  the  most  splen- 
did testimony  to  Christianity,  for  the  devil  has  no 
happy  old  people. 

COMMUNION  WITH  GOD. 

One  of  tlie  most  pathetic  things  in  life  is  the  num- 
ber of  people  to  whom  life  is  all  commonplace  and 
barren  of  oases  where  they  retire  from  the  desert  sands 
and  hold  secret  communion  with  the  Heavenly  Father, 
drawing  strength  from  sources  that  the  world  knows 
not  of.  On  Broadway,  in  New  York  City,  there  stands 
a  church  whose  doors  are  always  open  during  the  busy 
hours  of  the  day.  One  day  an  old  woman  was  noticed 
to  leave  the  mass  of  hurrying  humanity  and  ascend 
the  steps  of  this  church.  Her  face  was  the  picture  of 
misery  and  desolation,  but  not  the  desolation  of  pov- 
erty. Within  all  was  silent,  vast ;  a  boundless  gloom 
lay  over  everything,  broken  here  and  there-  by  the  yel- 
low flicker  of  a  low-turned  gas-jet.     Above  in  the  gal- 


156  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

lery  the  organist  was  pouring  forth  a  soft  flow  of 
improvisation  that  in  its  gentle  harmony  seemed  to 
breathe  forgiveness  upon  a  few  far-separated  figures 
kneeling  below.  The  old  woman  took  her  place  among 
them  and  knelt  there  for  a  while.  Then  she  arose  and 
passed  out  into  the  street,  and  the  light  falling  upon 
her  face  revealed  a  countenance  of  perfect  peace. 

THE  GREATEST  JEWEL  OF  ALL. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  a  sol- 
dier belonging  to  one  of  the  French  garrisons  in  India 
became  enamored  of  the  eyes  of  Brahma,  in  the  Tem- 
ple of  Seringham.  These  eyes  were  diamonds,  and 
were  the  most  brilliant  in  all  the  East.  Their  lustre 
captivated  the  soldier's  soul.  He  haunted  the  temple, 
and  pretended  to  yield  to  the  might  of  the  god,  and 
become  a  convert  to  his  worship.  The  priests  so  far 
believed  in  him  that  he  was  admitted  to  some  care  of 
the  temple.  They  doubtless  thought  Brahma  would 
be  able  to  protect  his  own  eyes.  But  on  a  stormy 
night  the  soldier  disappeared,  and  with  him  one  of 
the  idol's  eyes,  the  other  having  resisted  all  his  efforts 
to  dislodge  it.  So  Brahma  was  left  squinting,  and 
the  treacherous  Frenchman  sold  his  prize  to  a  captain 
in  the  English  navy  for  ten  thousand  dollars.  A 
shrewd  Armenian  merchant  paid  fifty  thousand 
dollars  for  it,  and  sold  it  to  Count  Gregory  for 
Catherine  of  Russia  for  four  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars. That  was  the  origin  of  the  famous  Orloff  dia- 
mond.    The  most  splendid  jewel  in  the  world,  how- 


ONE  FAMILY.  157 

ever,  is  not  a  diamond,  but  a  pearl.  Jesus  calls  it 
the  Pearl  of  Great  Price.  He  declares  that  a  man  is 
wise  who  sells  all  he  has  in  order  to  purchase  that 
pearl.  It  is  the  Pearl  of  Salvation,  and  the  poorest 
man  in  the  world  may  purchase  it  as  easily  as  a  king 
on  his  throne,  but  the  conditions  are  always  the  same, 
the  surrender  of  the  whole  heart  and  life  to  Jesus. 


FISHING  FOR  MEN. 

That  is  a  very  beautiful  fishing  story  which  is  re- 
lated in  the  fifth  chapter  of  St.  Luke's  Gospel,  where 
Jesus  had  been  preaching  from  the  deck  of  Peter's 
little  fishing  smack,  and  after  the  sermon  was  over  He 
said  to  Peter,  Let's  go  a-fishing;  and  Peter  replied 
that  they  had  been  out  all  night  and  had  not  been 
able  to  find  anything.  But  perhaps  noticing  the 
disappointed  look  on  Christ's  face,  he  continued: 
"Nevertheless,  at  thy  word,  I  will  let  down  the  net." 
They  had  a  great  catch  that  day,  and  took  more  fish 
than  they  could  carry  to  the  shore  in  two  boats.  It 
is  the  great  business  of  the  church  to  fish  for  men. 
We  are  Christ's  fishermen,  and  we  should  ever  be 
watchful  for  indications  from  him  as  to  opportunities 
for  winning  souls. 

ONE  FAMILY. 

The  unity  of  the  church  is  very  beautifully  illus- 
trated by  Paul  where  he  speaks  of  Christians,  both 
before  and  after  death,  as  one  family  on  earth  and  in 


158  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

heaven.  There  is  such  a  home-feeling  about  it.  It 
takes  away  the  strangeness  and  awe  that  are  natural 
to  us  when  we  think  of  our  loved  ones  whom  death 
has  taken  from  us.  If  we  are  Christ's  disciples  we 
all  belong  to  the  same  family,  tho  we  have  as  dif- 
ferent names  here  on  earth,  in  our  church  relations, 
as  there  are  in  the  family  circle.  Some  live  in  heaven 
in  the  mansions  Christ  has  gone  to  prepare  for  us, 
and  others  still  tarry  in  these  earthly  cottages ;  but  we 
are  all  one  family.  We  ought  never  to  do  anything 
to  bring  disgrace  to  the  family  name,  or  to  mar  the 
peace  and  joy  of  the  family  circle. 

THE  SOUL'S  EL  DORADO. 

How  often  we  hear  the  expression  about  some  of  the 
new  mining  regions  that  this  or  that  new  camp  is  an 
El  Dorado !  That  phrase  is  now  nearly  four  hundred 
years  old.  In  the  fifteenth  century  it  was  rumored  that 
there  existed  in  the  northern  part  of  South  America  a 
city  of  great  wealth,  called  Manoa,  whose  king.  El 
Dorado  by  name,  was  periodically  smeared  with  oil, 
or  balsam,  and  was  then  powdered  with  gold-dust 
until  his  whole  body  had  a  gilded  appearance.  It 
was  said  that  on  these  occasions  he  threw  gold,  emer- 
alds, and  other  precious  stones  and  gems  into  a  sacred 
lake,  in  which  he  afterward  bathed.  In  the  early 
part  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  Spaniards  sent  many 
large  expeditions  in  the  search  of  this  fabled  city,  and 
hundreds  of  lives  were  lost  in  the  attempt  to  discover 
the  phantom.     The  only  real  El  Dorado  in  this  world 


WORKING   TOGETHER   WITH  GOD.        159 

is  in  the  individual  human  heart.  There  is  a  gold- 
mine Avliich  never  fails  to  yield  the  color  to  the  skil- 
ful prospector.  Hidden  away  under  all  the  rough 
rock  and  earth  of  sin  are  veins  of  precious  metal 
worth  any  self-denial  to  uncover  and  bring  to  the 
light  of  day. 

QUALITY  MORE  IMPORTANT  THAN  QUANTITY. 

The  Czar  of  Eussia  has  one  estate  which  is  three 
times  as  large  as  all  of  England.  It  has  been  recently 
stated  in  a  financial  journal  that  there  is  one  acre  in 
London  which  is  worth  more  than  these  hundred  mil- 
lion acres  in  the  Kussian  steppes.  The  Czar's  great 
estate  brings  him  in  only  $475,000  a  year,  while  the 
one  acre  in  London  yields  an  income  of  over  $600,000 
a  year.  The  cultivation  of  the  heart  is  like  that.  A 
soul  may  become  rich  in  gems  of  patience,  peace,  love, 
hope,  faith,  meekness,  and  gentleness.  VThy  let  our 
hearts  be  barren  steppes  when  they  may  be  enriched 
so  as  to  yield  a  priceless  income  in  comfort  and  bless- 
ing to  the  world? 

WORKING  TOGETHER  WITH  GOD. 

In  some  churches  the  fatal  blunder  is  made  of  sup- 
posing that  it  is  necessary  to  wait  until  there  is  some 
strange  and  unusual  upheaval  in  the  community,  or 
until  the  coming  of  some  far-famed  evangelist,  before 
the  church  can  hope  for  a  revival  of  religion.  On  the 
other  hand,  all  that  is  ever  necessary  in  order  to  have 


160  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

a  revival  is  for  the  church  to  cooperate  with  God. 
He  is  always  working  toward  that  end.  Bishop  Janes 
used  to  say  with  perfect  confidence :  **  God  and  I  will 
have  a  revival."  Any  pastor,  however  young  and  in- 
experienced, and  any  church,  however  weak  and  scat- 
tered, have  a  right  to  say  that  if  they  have  determined 
to  work  together  with  God  to  bring  it  about. 

SPIRITUAL  INSIGHT. 

There  seems  to  be  more  erroneous  teachings  (5n  the 
subject  of  what  constitutes  spirituality  than  on  almost 
any  other  subject.  We  are  always  looking  for  the 
spiritual  in  the  strange  and  unusual,  forgetting  that 
the  really  spiritual  man  finds  the  Bread  of  Life  in  the 
common  food  of  every  day's  experience.  It  is  the 
reverent  spirit  with  which  we  handle  common  things, 
and  not  the  peculiarly  consecrated  deeds  which  we 
perform,  that  makes  a  truly  spiritual  life.  Frederick 
Langbridge  sings  in  lines  that  uplift  the  soul: 

"The  darkening  streets  about  me  lie, 
The  shame,  the  fret,  the  squalid  jars ; 
But  swallows'  wings  go  flashing  by, 
And  in  the  puddles  there  are  stars." 

"LEST  WE  FORGET." 

Mr.  Rudyard  Kipling,  in  his  great  hymn  published 
at  the  close  of  the  Queen's  Jubilee  services,  calls  most 
solemn  attention  to  the  danger  of  taking  outward 
success  and  applause  for  abiding,  permanent  safety. 


DO  NOT  WAIT.  161 

This  lesson,  written  for  nations,  is  good  for  individ- 
uals. Only  in  the  contrite  heart  and  reverent  trust  in 
God  is  there  a  fortress  which  is  impregnable. 

"The  tumult  aucl  the  shouting  dies — 
The  captains  and  the  kings  depart; 

Still  stands  Thine  ancient  sacrifice, 
An  humble  and  a  contrite  heart. 

Lord  God  of  Hosts,  be  with  us  yet, 
Lest  we  forget — lest  we  forget ! " 

LIKE  THE  SILLY  OX. 

A  man  whose  sin  had  brought  shame  and  disgrace 
upon  him,  and  who  is  trying  to  fight  his  way  back 
again  to  respect  by  divine  help,  uttered  these  words 
of  warning  the  other  day :  "  Let  me  raise  the  red  flag 
of  warning  that  others  may  escape  my  sad  experience. 
Strong  drink  and  evil  companions  brought  me  to  ruin. 
How  easily  it  was  done !  You  have  seen  the  butcher 
pat  the  neck  of  the  silly  ox  until  he  had  him  noosed 
for  slaughter!  So  was  I  led  by  flattering  plaudits  till 
locked  and  bolted  behind  prison  bars."  That  is  a 
graphic  description,  written  as  it  were,  in  a  man's 
life-blood.  It  recalls  the  words  of  the  Scripture  that 
there  is  a  way  which  seems  right  to  a  man,  but  the 
end  of  that  way  is  death. 

DO  NOT  WAIT. 
A  man  came  into  my  study  one  morning  with  sub- 
dued face  and  quivering  lips,  and  told  me  his  little 
son  was  lying  dead  in  his  home.     He  had  been  away 
to  the  mines  in  the  Northwest,  and  had  come  home  to 
11 


162  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

bring  added  comfort  and  blessing  to  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren, only  to  find  his  darling  boy  on  the  verge  of  the 
dark  river,  and  to  say  good-by  to  him  in  a  few  hours 
after  his  return.  He  had  come  too  late  so  far  as  the 
little  boy  was  concerned,  I  thought  how  often  this  is 
the  case.  We  do  not  say  the  kind  word  that  is  on 
our  lips,  or  do  the  merciful  deed  which  our  heart 
prompts,  because  there  seems  to  be  plenty  of  time  and 
no  hurry  about  it.  But  that  opportunity  never  comes 
again,  and  it  may  be  the  last  one  we  shall  have. 
Speak  the  word  of  sympathy  now.  Give  the  hand- 
shake of  good  cheer  to-day !  Putting  it  off  till  to- 
morrow may  mean  putting  it  out  of  reach  forever. 

"LOVE  MELTS  ICEBERGS/* 

A  prisoner  who  found  Christ  and  salvation  through 
the  kind  and  loving  ministrations  of  Mrs.  Ballington 
Booth  says:  "Love  melts  icebergs.  I  do  not  sup- 
pose any  prisoner  in  the  United  States  ever  heard  a 
public  speaker  say,  '  I  love  you  all, '  till  the  sweet 
words  came  like  fragrant  dew  upon  a  dry  and  parched 
earth  from  her  overflowing  heart.  Of  course  it  worked 
like  magic.  The  frozen  ground  began  to  thaw,  icy 
streams  melted  into  liquid  rivulets;  new  purposes 
arose  in  my  heart  as  the  sap  mounts  up  a  grape-vine 
in  the  spring  when  baptized  in  warm  sunshine. "  Love 
is  the  secret  of  Christ's  growing  hold  upon  this  world; 
it  is  the  lifting  power  of  which  he  spoke  in  his  daring 
prophecy :  "  And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up,  will  draw  all 
men  unto  me." 


""BIDE  A   WEE  AND  DINNA  FRET."        163 

THE  SORROWS  OF  THE  "HEARTBROKEN." 

A  minister  was  going  along  the  street  when  a  wo- 
man spoke  to  him,  saying :  "  Mister,  who  does  your 
washing?"  She  was  carrying  on  one  arm  a  basket 
and  on  the  other  a  large  bundle  tied  up  in  a  red,  faded 
table-cloth.  Her  step  was  unsteady,  and  her  hands 
skinny ;  her  eyes  were  sunken  and  had  lost  all  expres- 
sion save  despondency.  "  Madam,  you  do  not  seem 
to  be  able  to  carry  such  loads  as  you  have,  much  less 
to  wash  them,"  was  the  preacher's  reply.  "Yes," 
was  her  answer,  "  but  I  am  compelled  to.  I  have  seven 
children  living.  Their  father  will  drink,  and  I  am  so 
heartbroken  my  trouble  is  greater  than  I  can  describe ; 
but  I  conceal  it  as  best  I  can  for  the  sake  of  the  chil- 
dren." How  dare  we  sit  down  safe  within  the  shelter 
of  the  cross  ajid  thank  God  that  our  dear  Lord  is  able 
to  keep  us  safe  from  harm,  without  doing  all  that  we 
can  to  save  the  heartbroken  and  to  save  other  hearts 
from  breaking ! 

"BEDE  A  WEE  AND  DINNA  FRET." 

I  was  trying  to  get  a  place  for  a  young  woman  to 
work  in  a  large  book-store.  In  describing  her  ability 
to  the  merchant  I  remarked  among  other  things  that 
I  thought  the  person  in  question  had  a  good  deal  of 
adaptability,  and  would  be  able  to  fit  herself  to  cir- 
cumstances. He  was  interested  in  a  moment  and  said 
such  a  person  was  almost  invaluable  in  a  large  busi- 
ness.    Such  people  are  always  in  demand.     There  is 


164  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

BO  place  where  they  are  needed  more  than  in  the 
church.  That  must  have  been  what  Paul  meant  when 
he  said  that  he  was  willing  to  be  all  things  to  all  men 
if  by  any  means  he  might  be  able  to  save  some  of 
them.  It  shows  out  in  every-day  life  in  an  ability  to 
put  the  best  face  on  little  troubles  and  difficulties  that 
come  up.  If  we  are  always  fretting  and  chafing  when 
things  do  not  go  to  suit  us,  we  not  only  do  not  get  on 
ourselves,  but  we  get  in  the  way  of  other  people  and 
annoy  and  discourage  them.  Patience  and  adapting 
ourselves  to  the  new  phase  are  great  sweeteners  of 
daily  life.     The  old  Scotch  ditty  has  it  about  right : 

"  With  toils  and  cares  unending 
Art  beset? 
Bethink  thee,  how  the  storms  from  heaven  descending, 
Snap  the  stiff  oak,  but  spare  the  willow  bending, 
And  bide  a  wee  and  dinna  fret. " 

AN  EXPRESS  COMPANY  IN  A  CHURCH. 

There  is  a  pretty  ivy-covered  little  church  on  Mad- 
ison Avenue,  New  York  City,  which  is  still  pretty  and 
churchly  in  its  appearance  outside,  but  which  has 
been  for  a  number  of  years  occupied  by  an  express 
company.  I  fear  that  there  are  a  good  many  other 
churches  that  have  been  so  given  over  to  all  sorts  of 
entertainments  and  schemes  for  making  money,  and 
indeed  almost  every  scheme  except  the  one  great 
scheme  of  bringing  poor  sinners  to  Christ,  that  the 
business  carried  on  in  them  far  more  nearly  resembles 
that  of  the  express  company  than  that  of  a  simple 
straightforward  church  of  Jesus  Christ. 


A  MICROBE-PROOF  HOUSE.  165 

A  MICROBE-PROOF  HOUSE. 

A  scientist  has  erected  iu  Yokohama,  Japan,  one 
of  the  oddest  houses  in  the  world.  It  is  a  dust-proof, 
microbe-proof  building  of  glass.  The  house  is  forty- 
four  feet  long,  twentj^-three  feet  wide,  and  seventeen 
feet  high.  Large  panes  of  glass,  one-half  inch  thick 
and  about  four  inches  apart,  are  set  in  iron  frames  so 
as  to  form  the  sides  of  a  cellular  building  block.  Of 
these  blocks  the  walls  are  constructed.  There  are  no 
window-sashes,  the  air  escape  being  through  several 
small  openings  around  the  upper  part  of  the  second 
story,  but  through  which  no  air  from  the  outside  is 
admitted.  The  air  supply  is  obtained  from  a  consid- 
erable distance,  forced  through  a  pipe,  and  carefully 
filtered  through  cotton  wool  to  cleanse  it  of  bacteria. 

To  insure  further  sterilization  the  air  is  driven 
against  a  glycerin-coated  plate  of  glass,  which  cap- 
tures all  the  microbes  the  wool  spares.  The  few 
microbes  brought  into  the  house  in  the  clothes  of  vis- 
itors soon  die  in  the  warm  sunlight  with  which  the 
house  is  flooded.  The  space  between  the  glasses  of 
the  building-blocks  is  filled  with  a  solution  of  salts 
which  absorb  the  heat  of  the  sun,  so  that  the  rooms 
of  this  house  are  much  cooler  than  those  protected  by 
the  thickest  shades.  In  the  evening  the  interior  is 
heated  by  the  salts  radiating  the  heat  they  hav^e  ab- 
sorbed during  the  day.  So  effective  is  the  system  of 
regulating  the  temperature  that  a  few  hours  of  sun- 
light, even  in  freezing  weather,  will  render  the  house 
comfortable.     But  even  in  such  a  house  one  would 


166  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

soon  grow  old,  and  the  body  grow  weak  with  age. 
Eternity  must  furnish  a  better  house  than  that,  and 
God  has  seen  to  it  that  his  children  shall  not  be  with- 
out a  home.  Paul  says :  "  We  know  that  if  our 
earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle  were  dissolved,  we 
have  a  building  of  God,  a  house  not  made  with  hands, 
eternal  in  the  heavens. " 


NESTING  IN  THE  LIGHT. 

When  the  trimmer  of  an  electric  lamp  went  to  put 
the  carbons  in  an  arc-light  in  Hagerstown,  Ind.,  he 
discovered  that  a  pair  of  English  sparrows  had  builded, 
brooded,  and  hatched  in  the  draft  of  the  tin  hood 
that  protects  the  globe  from  rain.  Nearly  a  peck  of 
straw  and  feathers  were  pulled  from  the  hood,  and 
three  young  sparrows  fluttered  away.  The  birds  had 
selected  this  strange  place  for  a  nest,  and  in  spite  of 
the  sizzing  of  the  light  had  accomplished  their  pur- 
pose and  reared  their  young.  Every  home  nest  ought 
to  be  illuminated  with  the  light  of  Him  who  is  the 
Light  of  the  World.  We  ought  to  live  in  the  light 
here,  and  then  the  dazzling  light  of  the  judgment  and 
the  glorious  light  of  heaven  will  not  alarm  us. 

THE  SINNER'S  BROKEN  WEAPONS. 

A  ship  sailing  from  Honolulu  to  San  Francisco  sud- 
denly sprang  a  leak,  in  calm  weather,  without  any 
apparent  reason.  But  when  the  cargo  was  taken  out, 
and  the  ship  rose  several  feet  out  of  the  water,  the 


PEACE  IN  THE  FACE  OF  THE  ENEMY.     167 

cause  was  discovered.  Protruding  fully  two  inches 
from  the  side  of  the  ship  was  the  broken  sword  of  a 
swordfish.  The  fish  had  struck  the  vessel  with  such 
fury  as  to  drive  its  sword  completely  through  the  ten- 
inch  planking.  Its  point  extended  three  inches  into 
the  hold.  The  fish  had  been  unable  to  withdraw  it, 
and  it  had  broken  off  short.  The  planking  had  split 
on  each  side  of  the  weapon,  and  the  water  had  made 
its  way  in  through  the  opening.  The  injury  to  the 
vessel  was  easily  repaired,  but  the  loss  to  the  fish 
could  never  be  remedied.  David  says  the  wicked 
man  who  rebels  against  God  reaches  the  same  result 
as  the  swordfish  that  attacked  the  hull  of  the  ship. 
"Behold,"  says  the  Psalmist,  "he  travaileth  with 
iniquity,  and  hath  conceived  mischief,  and  brought 
forth  falsehood.  He  made  a  pit,  and  digged  it,  and 
is  fallen  into  the  ditch  which  he  made.  His  mischief 
shall  return'upon  his  own  head,  and  his  violent  deal- 
ing shall  come  down  upon  his  own  pate." 

PEACE  IN  THE  FACE  OF  THE  ENEMY. 

It  is  related  of  Lord  Nelson  that,  on  the  day  before 
the  battle  of  Trafalgar,  his  greatest  concern  was  the 
making  of  peace  between  two  of  his  officers.  They 
had  had  such  a  feud  between  them  for  a  long  time 
that  neither  could  take  any  pleasure  in  the  other's 
winning  a  victory.  Lord  Nelson  took  these  two  officers 
to  a  spot  where  they  could  have  a  good  view  of  the 
fleet  which  was  opposed  to  them.  "  Yonder, "  said 
the  admiral,  "  are  your  enemies ;  shake  hands  and  be 


168  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

friends  like  good  Englishmen."  Christians  should 
never  permit  themselves  to  be  handicapped  by  vari- 
ances between  them  and  their  brethren.  We  should 
pour  all  our  shot  into  our  enemies,  and  not  spend  any 
of  it  on  those  who,  like  ourselves,  are  seeking  to  fol- 
low Christ,  tho  in  a  different  method  from  our  own 
course. 

'*A  FRIEND  IN  NEED  IS  A  FRIEND  INDEED." 

Francis  Murphy,  the  temperance  worker,  said  that 
he  would  rather  have  one  little  spray  of  a  flower  given 
to  him  while  he  was  alive  and  in  need  of  tokens  of 
affection  and  esteem,  than  to  have  some  one  throw  a 
bouquet  big  as  a  bushel  at  him  after  he  was  dead,  say- 
ing, "There,  Murphy,  smell  that!"  I  think  we  all 
feel  that  way.  The  friends  we  count  on  are  those 
who  stand  by  us  when  we  need  them.  We  should 
stand  up  and  confess  Christ  where  he  is  not  popular, 
and  where  wicked  men  sneer  at  him;  there  is  the 
best  place  to  make  our  fidelity  known  and  to  shine  for 
him. 

LOVE  AS  LIFE'S  SNOW. 

I  think  that  Dr.  Nansen,  the  heroic  Arctic  discov- 
erer, is  the  first  writer  who  has  compared  love  to 
snow.  In  his  brilliant  book,  entitled  "Farthest 
North,"  there  is  this  passage:  "This  snowless  ice- 
plain  is  like  a  life  without  love — nothing  to  soften  it. 
The  marks  of  all  the  battles  and  pressures  of  the  ice 
stand  forth  just  as  when  they  were  made — rugged, 
and  difiicult  to  move  among.     Love  is  life's  snow.     It 


LETTING  CHRIST  PLAY  ON  OUR  HEARTS.  1C9 

falls  deepest  and  softest  into  the  gashes  left  by  the 
fight,  whiter  and  purer  than  snow  itself.  What  is 
life  without  love?  It  is  like  this  ice,  a  cold,  bare, 
rugged  mass,  the  .wind  driving  it  and  rending  it,  and 
then  forcing  it  together  again,  nothing  to  cover  over 
the  open  rifts,  nothing  to  break  the  violence  of  the 
collisions,  nothing  to  round  away  the  sharp  corners 
of  the  broken  floes — nothing,  nothing  but  bare,  rug- 
ged, drift-ice."  Surely  no  added  comment  is  needed 
to  point  so  simple  and  yet  so  sublime  a  figure. 

GOD'S  LOVE. 

A  little  child  said  to  his  mother,  that  if  he  could 
say  what  he  liked  to  God,  it  would  be  this :  "  Dear 
God,  love  me  when  I'm  naughty."  Isn't  that  what 
we  all  need  more  than  anything  else?  The  most 
blessed  revelation  in  God's  Word  is  that  He  does 
love  us  when  we  are  bad  and  unlovable  to  any  one 
else.  He  does  not  forsake  us  or  cast  us  off,  but  seeks 
after  us  with  patient  loving-kindness,  trying  to  win 
us  from  the  sin  that  mars  us. 

LETTING  CHRIST  PLAY  ON  OUR  HEARTS. 

It  is  related  of  Mendelssohn,  the  great  musical  com- 
poser, that  he  once  visited  Freiburg  cathedral  and 
asked  permission  to  play  on  the  organ,  but  the  organ- 
ist, not  knowing  him,  at  first  refused  the  request.  At 
last,  after  much  entreaty,  he  consented  to  let  the 
stranger  go  to  the  organ,  but  when  Mendelssohn  began 


170  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

to  play  the  old  organist  burst  into  tears,  and  asked 
Iiim  for  his  name.  When  he  heard  who  he  Avas,  he 
wept  afresh,  and  said :  "  Only  to  think!  I  had  almost 
forbid  Mendelssohn  to  touch  my  organ."  So  Christ 
comes  to  knock  at  the  door  of  our  hearts ;  he  longs 
to  come  in  and  play  upon  the  chords  of  our  nature 
and  awaken  heavenly  music  where  now  is  only  discord. 
How  foolish  men  are  when  they  lock  the  door  against 
him! 

PULLING  PEOPLE  OUT  OF  DANGER 

An  intelligent  dog  in  the  city  of  Detroit  came  across 
a  man  who  was  lying  insensible  on  the  railroad  track, 
in  such  a  position  that  he  would  have  been  cut  in  two 
had  a  train  happened  along.  As  soon  as  the  dog 
reached  the  prostrate  form,  he  began  to  tug  at  the 
coat-collar  of  the  unconscious  man,  vainly  trying  to 
drag  him  out  of  danger.  This  persistent  tugging 
seemed  to  half  arouse  the  poor  fellow  from  the  stupor 
into  which  he  had  fallen,  and  by  the  time  the  first 
man  arrived  on  the  scene  he  was  rubbing  his  eyes  and 
attempting  to  rise,  but  was  so  weak  that  even 
after  he  was  placed  upon  his  feet  he  could  not  walk 
without  assistance.  The  dog  seemed  beside  himself 
with  joy  when  he  realized  that  he  had  succeeded  in 
interesting  some  one.  He  capered  and  whined,  lay 
down  and  rolled  over,  and  whirled  around  in  canine 
ecstasy  as  he  saw  the  man  removed  from  the  track. 
If  a  dog  has  intelligence  and  love  enough  to  do  that, 
how  much  more  should  we,  who  have  received  such 
great  blessings  of  God  and  have  known  the  pardon  of 


INDORSING  CHRIST  BY  OUR  LIVES.      171 

our  sins  through  Jesus  Christ,  devote  ourselves  to 
rescuing  the  sinful  and  unfortunate  from  their  dan- 
ger, and  to  winning  them  to  Christ  who  is  able  to 
save  them. 

PRESUMPTUOUS  SINS. 

A  party  of  men,  women,  and  children  returning 
from  church  at  Eagle  Furnace,  Ohio,  started  to  cross 
a  long  trestle  on  the  railroad.  When  about  midway 
they  heard  the  whistle  of  the  evening  mail-train  which 
was  bearing  down  upon  them  at  a  high  rate  of  speed. 
Some  jumped  and  others  were  pushed  into  the  waters 
of  the  swollen  stream  below.  One  woman  became 
bewildered,  and  was  struck  by  the  locomotive  and 
killed.  The  others  of  the  party  were  rescued  after 
much  exposure  and  many  injuries.  It  was  very  pre- 
sumptuous for  these  people  to  take  the  risk  of  cross- 
ing on  the  railroad  track.  Many  people  put  them- 
selves in  the  way  of  being  tempted  into  sin;  they 
pray  to  God  not  to  lead  them  into  temptation,  and 
then  they  go  straight  out  to  where  they  know  they 
will  be  tempted.  It  is  presumptuous  to  do  that.  We 
should  give  ourselves  the  benefit  of  every  help  we  can 
by  choosing  good  associations  and  putting  ourselves 
in  the  way  of  encouragement  and  strength  in  the 
Christian  life. 

INDORSING  CHRIST  BY  OUR  LIVES. 

There  is  a  citizen  of  Paris,  Ky.,  who  seems  to  be 
keeping  up  the  honeymoon,  tho  he  has  been  mar- 
ried a  good  while.     Some  time  ago  his  wife  entered 


172  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

the  Agricultural  Bank  of  Paris,  and  presented  a  check 
signed  by  her  husband  and  payable  to  "  Sweetest  of 
the  Sweet."  *' Who  is  the  Sweetest  of  the  Sweet?" 
asked  the  bank  officer,  "  Why,  I  am,"  she  innocently 
replied.  "  Please  indorse  the  check, "  said  the  banker. 
The  woman  wrote  her  name  across  the  back  of  the 
check  and  again  handed  it  through  the  window.  She 
was  told  that  she  must  indorse  it  just  as  it  was  drawn, 
and  so  she  wrote  "  Sweetest  of  the  Sweet  "  below  her 
name.  Then  the  amount  called  for  by  the  check 
was  handed  to  her.  The  check  was  framed,  and  has 
been  hung  on  the  w^all  as  a  reminder  that  the  ro- 
mance of  the  Blue  Grass  region  has  not  yet  died  out. 
It  strikes  me  there  is  a  good  illustration  in  this  of 
the  kind  of  indorsement  we  ought  to  be  giving  Christ 
every  day.  Christ  is  "the  one  altogether  lovely," 
and  our  lives  ought  to  be  so  pure  and  kindly  and 
gracious  that  every  day  they  shall  tell  for  him. 

DEFEND  THE  YOUNG. 

On  the  coast  of  Florida  there  are  many  rookeries 
where  thousands  of  sea-birds  build  their  nests  and 
rear  their  young.  Haunting  the  rookeries  of  these 
birds  is  a  large  blue  crab.  He  makes  a  hole  in  the 
ground,  usually  under  a  log,  and,  when  he  hears  a 
noise,  elevates  his  head  and  protrudes  his  eyes  with 
startling  effect.  He  is  able  to  take  care  of  himself, 
for  his  pincers  are  powerful  and  his  shell  is  hard. 
He  is  often  as  large  as  a  big  saucer.  There  is  a 
perpetual  war  between  him  and  the  birds.     He  wan- 


A  BACKSLIDER'S  SORROW.  173 

ders  among  the  nests  at  night,  and  appropriates  the 
bits  of  fish  left  by  the  nestlings,  and  the  young  them- 
selves, if  he  can  find  a  mother  of  her  guard.  But  he 
has  to  be  sly,  or  he  is  killed  by  the  stroke  of  a  bayo- 
net bill,  and  eaten  in  his  turn.  When  the  plume 
hunters  have  driven  off  or  destroyed  the  parents  of  a 
rookery,  these  crabs  swarm  out  and  devour  the  neg- 
lected young  birds  in  short  order.  Our  modern 
towns  and  cities  throng  with  marauders  of  the  home 
nest.  When  parents  become  worldly  and  forgetful  of 
spiritual  good,  the  children  become  an  easy  prey  for 
these  lurking  sinners. 

A  BACKSLIDER'S  SORROW. 

An  officer  of  a  Cunard  steamship  says  that  there  is 
a  vast  difference  between  the  appearance  of  steerage 
passengers  teturning  to  Europe  and  those  coming  to 
America.  On  the  western  voyage  the  faces  of  the 
immigrants  are  bright  with  expectancy  and  hope. 
Some  of  them  have  doubtless  lain  awake  at  night 
dreaming  of  the  new  land.  You  can  see  that  they 
have  been  inspired  by  the  roseate  visions  painted  for 
them  by  their  friends  or  relatives  who  have  succeeded 
on  this  side  of  the  water.  Those  who  go  back  to  stay 
are  not  many.  You  can  pick  them  out  by  their  de- 
jected looks.  They  have  not  succeeded.  They  have 
found  that  hard  work  is  just  as  necessary  in  order  to 
get  along  in  the  States  as  it  is  in  Europe.  The  great 
majority,  however,  of  the  immigrants  stay.  The  sad 
faces  of  those  who  go  back  because  they  have  failed 


174  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

is  an  illustration  of  the  gloomy  hearts  that  are  carried 
by  those  who  have  turned  away  from  their  Christian 
profession  and  gone  back  to  the  sins  of  the  world. 


SHOWING  OUR  COLORS. 

The  violet  was  at  one  time  the  badge  worn  by  the 
friends  of  the  great  Napoleon.  It  came  about  in  this 
way.  On  the  eve  of  leaving  France  for  Elba,  he  said 
to  his  friends:  *'I  shall  return  with  the  violets." 
And  this  little  sentence — a  mere  chance  expression — 
was  sufficient  for  his  sympathizers.  Not  only  were 
the  flowers  worn  by  the  Bonapartists,  men  and  wo- 
men, as  a  badge,  but  violet  ribbons  and  jewelry  in 
the  form  of  the  flower  were  speedily  used  to  display 
their  feelings.  When  it  was  forbidden  by  law  to  sell 
portraits  of  Napoleon,  his  friends  ingeniously  evaded 
the  proscription  by  publishing  the  picture  of  a  group 
of  violets  with  their  leaves  so  arranged  that  in  their 
outlines  the  profiles  of  Napoleon,  Marie  Louise,  and 
the  King  of  Eome  could  be  readily  traced.  Every 
Christian  should  be  ready  to  show  his  colors  as  a 
Christian.  Christ  calls  us  to  an  open  discipleship, 
and  anything  less  than  that  is  unworthy  of  those  who 
have  been  redeemed  by  his  blood. 

HEARTS  ON  FIRE, 

There  has  been  patented  an  instrument  called  the 
Dight  thermal  inspirator,  which  promises  to  over- 
come the  effects  of  cold,  and  make  it  possible  to  with- 


STANDING  ON  THE  PROMISES.  175 

stand  the  most  frigid  climates.  The  inspirator  is  a 
device  to  retain  the  heat  from  the  exhaled  air,  which 
in  turn  warms  the  inhaled  air  before  it  reaches  the 
lungs.  It  prevents  the  loss  of  heat  from  the  body 
as  it  ordinarily  occurs  through  the  breath.  In  a  re- 
cent test  Dr.  Dight  entered  a  cold-storage  where  the 
temperature  was  below  zero,  and,  by  use  of  the  inspi- 
rator, when  the  air  reached  the  lungs  it  was  raised 
from  seventy  to  seventy-five  degrees.  The  inventor 
thinks  that  even  at  the  North  Pole,  and  with  no  other 
clothing  than  that  of  ordinary  wear,  it  would  furnish 
a  constant  supply  of  warm  air,  and  he  hopes  to  have 
it  worn  in  an  Arctic  expedition.  Whatever  may  be  the 
fate  of  this  experiment,  I  am  sure  that  there  is  no 
place  on  earth  so  dark  and  cold  in  spiritual  night  but 
that  the  Christian  whose  heart  is  warmed  by  heav- 
enly love  may  keep  the  fire  burning  to  the  joy  of  his 
soul. 

STANDING  ON  THE  PROMISES. 

In  these  days  of  advanced  engineering,  railroads 
have  sought  and  conquered  many  remarkable  places. 
From  California,  however,  comes  the  strangest  of  rail- 
road stories.  It  tells  of  a  train  that  actually  runs 
over  tree-tops.  In  the  building  of  the  road  a  huge 
ravine  was  encountered,  the  sides  and  bottom  of  which 
were  heavily  wooded,  two  giant  redwood  monarchs  of 
the  forest  towering  far  above  the  less  pretentious 
growth,  and  imparting  an  air  of  almost  regal  impres- 
siveness.  The  big  redwoods  were  sawed  off  seventy- 
five  feet  from  the  ground,  this  being  the  exact  height 


176  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

from  the  level  of  the  ravine  to  the  tops  of  the  lowest 
of  the  other  trees.  Next,  trees  on  either  side  were 
sawed  off  of  sufficient  height  to  make  their  tops  in  a 
direct  line  with  the  tops  of  the  redwoods  as  well  as  of 
the  edges  of  the  banks.  And  thus  the  trains  roll 
above  the  tree-tops  and  stand  upon  the  living  trees. 
So  God's  promises  upon  which  the  Christian  rests  are 
not  dead  stumps,  but  living  trees  that  are  vital  with 
the  life  of  God. 

HELP  FROM   THE  KING. 

One  night  a  few  London  policemen  noticed  that  the 
door  of  a  famous  jewelry-store  was  half  open,  and 
upon  going  in  they  found  themselves  face  to  face  with 
three  burglars  who  were  on  the  point  of  breaking  open 
the  safe.  A  hand-to-hand  fight  at  once  took  place, 
the  result  of  which  was  that  one  burglar  was  captured, 
while  the  other  two  managed  to  dash  out  into  the 
street.  The  police  called  loudly  for  assistance,  and 
their  cries  reached  a  gentleman  who  happened  to  be 
passing  by  the  store.  He  at  once  grappled  with  the 
two  burglars,  and  after  a  sharp  tussle  managed  to 
overcome  one  of  them.  He  turned  him  over  to  the. 
police,  and  was  about  to  go  his  way,  when  the  police 
requested  him  to  accompany  them  to  the  station, 
as  they  wished  him  to  bear  testimony  to  what  had 
occurred.  The  gentleman  consented,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  the  party  reached  the  station.  There  the 
unknown  champion  of  law  and  order  was  asked  for  his 
name,  and  to  the  amazement  of  all  he  replied  that  he 
was  the  Prince  of  Wales.     No  man  fighting  against 


A  CLEAN  HEART.  177 

wicked  temptations  that  threaten  the  precious  treas- 
ures of  his  soul  shall  ever  cry  for  help  in  vain. 
Christ,  our  Prince  and  King,  is  always  near  to  the 
soul  that  is  faithfully  guarding  its  noblest  treasures. 
We  have  but  to  ask  to  receive  his  help. 

A  CLEAN  HEART. 

The  government  artesian  well  at  Lower  Brule  In- 
dian Agency,  South  Dakota,  is  a  freak  that  is  puz- 
zling the  geologists  of  the  Northwest.  Originally 
the  pressure  threw  a  solid  six-inch  stream  of  water 
to  a  height  of  twenty-one  feet  above  the  top  of  the 
well  casing.  Soon  after  the  well  was  completed  the 
pipe  began  occasionally  to  become  choked  and  after- 
ward to  spout  forth  blue  clay.  The  blue  clay  entirely 
fills  the  six-inch  pipe  during  the  temporary  eruptions, 
and  rises  slowly  above  the  top  of  the  casing,  exactly 
as  sausages  emerge  from  a  sausage-machine,  until  the 
top  is  so  high  in  the  air  that  it  becomes  overbalanced ; 
then  five  or  six  feet  of  the  length  topples  over  upon 
the  ground.  These  eruptions  invariably  begin  a  short 
time  prior  to  the  advent  of  windy  or  stormy  weather, 
and  continue  until  the  weather  becomes  settled.  A 
sinful  heart  is  like  that.  It  spouts  forth  mire  and 
clay  every  little  while.  A  man  may  hide  his  sinful 
heart  in  times  of  prosperity  when  everything  goes  to 
please  him,  but  when  adverse  winds  come  the  buried 
dirt  in  his  heart  belches  forth.  The  only  way  to  have 
a  peaceful  heart,  that  will  always  give  forth  a  pure 
conversation  and  life,  is  to  have  a  clean  heart. 
12 


178  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 


GOING  TO  BATTLE  WELL  ARMED. 

A  farmer  residing  near  Calhoun,  Ga.,  had  a  fight 
with  a  pack  of  half-starved  mountain  wolves,  in 
which  he,  single-handed  and  unarmed,  vanquished 
his  assailants.  He  heard  noises  in  the  direction  of 
his  pig-pen  at  a  late  hour,  and  on  investigation  dis- 
covered that  they  were  mountain  wolves.  When  they 
attacked  him  he  beat  them  off  with  his  fists  and  re- 
treated backward  until  he  reached  a  well.  Then  he 
grasped  the  nearest  wolf  by  the  throat  and  flung  it  into 
the  water.  He  was  covered  with  blood  and  almost 
unconscious  from  his  wounds,  but  he  managed  to  dis- 
pose of  four  others  in  the  same  manner.  He  then 
succeeded  in  reaching  his  house.  One  of  the  sad- 
dest things  ever  observed  is  the  brave  fight  one  occa- 
sionally sees  a  man  make  against  some  wolfish  passion 
or  lust  or  evil  habit,  alone  and  unaided  by  Divine 
strength.  We  do  not  need  to  make  this  fight  alone 
or  unarmed.  We  may  have  "the  whole  armor  of 
righteousness  "  and  the  strong  arm  of  Christ  to  aid  us 
in  our  struggle. 

GO  TO  SEA  IN  A  STANCH  BOAT. 

The  departure  of  an  old  pilot- boat  from  New  York 
for  the  Klondike,  and  the  sailing  from  Portsmouth, 
ISr.  H.,  a  little  earlier,  of  a  worn-out  old  fishing- 
schooner,  both  with  a  crowd  of  gold-seekers  on  board 
determined  to  force  their  way  west  through  the  Straits 


STARTING  THE  CHURCH  FURNACE.      179 

of  Magellan,  gave  rise  to  a  great  deal  of  discussion 
among  shipping  men.  Old  and  practical  seafaring 
men,  who  had  had  personal  experience  in  this  dan- 
gerous locality,  claimed  that  such  unsafe  boats  would 
never  weather  so  stormy  a  passage,  and  would  prob- 
ably go  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea  with  their  ill-fated 
crews  and  passengers.  If  a  man  should  be  careful 
about  selecting  a  boat  to  carry  him  through  the  Straits 
of  Magellan,  how  much  more  careful  should  he  be  who 
is  developing  a  body  and  brain  and  heart  in  which  the 
whole  voyage  of  life  is  to  be  taken !  With  what  tem- 
perance and  prudence  should  he  eat  and  drink  and 
act,  that  the  ship  may  make  good  headway  toward 
the  haven  of  a  crowned  character  at  the  end  of  the 
journey! 

STARTING  THE  CHURCH  FURNACE. 

Down  ill  the  iron  country  in  Pennsylvania  they 
have  many  pretty  ceremonies  when  they  start  up  the 
big,  grimy,  pig-iron  blast-furnaces.  It  is  the  only 
occasion  when  gaily  dressed  ladies  and  children  are 
seen  in  the  spacious  casting-houses  of  these  great  iron 
giants.  The  people  are  so  glad  that  work  is  again  to 
be  plenty,  and  that  wages  are  to  flow  into  all  the 
homes  round  about,  that  they  turn  out  from  all  sides 
and  make  a  holiday  of  it.  The  furnace  is  aU  made 
ready  for  lighting,  and  when  the  crowd  is  gathered 
the  superintendent  or  the  owner  will  shout  out :  "  Let 
the  furnace  be  lighted !  "  Then  some  pretty  little  girl 
who  has  been  selected  will  step  forward  with  a  cane, 
or  wand,  neatly  trimmed  with  ribbons.     At  the  fer- 


180  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

ule  end  is  fastened  a  bit  of  cotton  waste  which  is 
lighted.  She  applies  this  torch  to  the  kindling,  and 
soon  the  black  smoke  rises  from  the  roaring  lire  of 
the  furnace  within.  The  churches  ought  to  go  into 
revivals  every  year  with  that  same  spirit  of  happi- 
ness and  gladness  that  they  are  privileged  to  have  a 
part  in  a  campaign  of  special  service  for  the  Lord. 
We  ought  to  keep  the  fires  brightly  burning  in  all  the 
regular  services  of  the  church,  but  at  least  once  a 
year  it  is  good  for  a  month  or  so  to  light  up  the  great 
revival  furnace  and  all  hands  work  with  special  con- 
secration for  the   salvation  of  souls. 


CHIVALRY  IN  HOMESPUN. 

A  New  York  reporter  was  coming  across  City  Hall 
Square,  in  a  pouring  rain,  when  he  noticed  an  old 
woman  dressed  very  shabbily  and  in  clothing  long 
out  of  date;  walking  by  her  side  was  an  old  man  as 
torn  and  seedy  as  herself.  But  poor  and  unfortunate 
as  they  evidently  were,  no  knight  at  an  emperor's 
court  was  ever  more  gallant  and  chivalrous  than  the 
old  man  in  care  of  his  feeble  wife.  He  guided  her 
around  puddles  and  between  wagons,  with  his  hand 
ever  at  her  ragged  elbow.  Never  for  a  moment  did 
they  trail  miserably  along,  one  behind  the  other. 
His  hand  was  upon  hers,  his  glance  was  directing 
both.  There  was  evident  grace  and  deference  in  his 
every  movement.  As  they  reached  the  bridge  en- 
trance he  admonished  her  tenderly :  "  Mind  the  steps, 
Ellen,  they  do  be  terrible  slippy  to-day."     It  is  the 


HUNTING  FOR  NUGGETS.  181 

mission  of  Jesus  Christ  to  make  this  whole  world  ten- 
der and  gentle  and  chivalrous.  So  the  weak  shall 
lean  upon  the  strong  with  grateful  love,  and  the  strong 
shall  bear  the  burdens  of  the  weak  with  sympathetic 
courtesy. 

HUNTING  FOR  NUGGETS. 

Tho  California  and  the  Klondike,  as  well  as  Idaho 
and  Montana,  have  yielded  vast  stores  of  gold,  the 
great  nuggets  have  been  found  in  Australia.  The 
hugest  piece  of  gold  which  was  ever  found  was  taken 
from  the  blue  slate  in  which  it  was  embedded,  in  Hill 
End,  New  South  Wales,  on  May  10,  1872.  The  poor 
fellows  who  found  it  had  reached  the  very  end  of  their 
resources,  and  were  ]\Xut  about  ready  to  give  up  in  de- 
spair. Their  provisions  were  gone,  their  money  was 
gone,  and  their  credit  was  gone,  but  digging  on,  ho- 
ping against  hope,  they  suddenly  came  on  this  immense 
nugget  of  gold.  It  weighed  six  hundred  and  forty 
pounds,  was  fifty -seven  inches  long,  thirty-eight  inches 
wide,  and  on  an  average  four  inches  thick.  They  re- 
ceived $148,800  for  it.  Many  people  have  had  a  sim- 
ilar experience  in  Christian  work.  They  have  sought 
earnestly  to  influence  wayward  and  indifferent  souls 
to  the  Christian  life,  only  to  fail  again  and  again. 
A  man  once  told  me  with  sadness  that  he  had  been  a 
Christian  for  many  years,  and  tho  he  had  tried  to 
do  his  best,  he  did  not  know,  certainly,  of  any  one 
whom  he  had  influenced  to  become  a  Christian.  I 
urged  him  to  try  again,  and  in  six  weeks  I  personally 
knew  of  seven  whom  he  influenced  to  give  their  hearts 


182  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

to  Christ  and  come  into  the  church.  Human  life  is  a 
great  gold-mine,  and  there  are  plenty  of  nuggets  for 
those  who  will  seek  persistently. 

WHAT  WE  LIVE  FOR. 

The  late  George  Linnaeus  Banks,  the  venerable 
English  journalist,  who  has  but  recently  ceased  to 
live  on  earth,  was  the  author  of  a  very  beautiful  poem 
entitled,  "What  I  Live  For."  The  ideal  which  we 
strive  for  in  our  human  living  is  so  vastly  important 
that  I  quote  the  last  verse,  which  seems  to  breathe 
the  atmosphere  of  the  practical  Christian  life : 

"  I  live  for  those  who  love  me. 

For  those  who  know  me  true, 
For  the  heaven  that  smiles  above  me, 

And  awaits  my  spirit  too ; 
For  the  cause  that  lacks  assistance. 
For  the  wrong  that  needs  resistance, 
For  the  future  in  the  distance, 

And  the  good  that  I  can  do.  " 

,    LEAKS  IN  THE  SABBATH. 

We  are  told  that  the  Missouri  Eiver  leaks  badly. 
The  government  engineers  once  measured  the  flow  of 
the  Missouri  in  Montana,  and  again  some  hundred 
miles  down  the  stream.  To  their  surprise  they  found 
that  the  Missouri,  instead  of  growing  larger  down 
stream,  was  very  perceptibly  smaller  at  the  lower 
point.  Dakota  farmers  to  the  south  and  east  of  those 
points  of  the  Missouri,  sinking  artesian  wells,  have 


TRANSPLANTED  LIVES.  183 

found  immense  volumes  of  water  where  the  geologists 
said  there  would  not  be  any.  So  it  is  believed  that 
the  farmers  have  tapped  the  water  leaking  from  that 
big  hole  in  the  Missouri  Kiver  in  Montana,  and  from 
these  wells  they  irrigate  large  tracts  of  land.  I  think 
a  "profitable  Sabbath"  is  one  whose  gracious  influ- 
ences leak  out  into  all  the  days  of  the  week,  making 
our  Mondays  and  Tuesdays  and  all  the  other  days  of 
hard  competition  in  business  life  more  fertile  in 
brotherly  kindness  and  genuine  Christian  sympathy. 
Perhaps  where  some  people  think  the  Sabbath  is  get- 
ting smaller  the  leakage  is  of  this  kind. 

TRANSPLANTED  LIVES. 

At  Lake  Lebarge,  in  Alaska,  a  traveler  met  an  Eng- 
lishman who  was  taking  his  family  for  an  excursion. 
His  wife  was  a  squaw,  and  her  face  and  the  faces  of 
the  children  were  painted  black.  The  Englishman 
was  taking  his  family  to  visit  some  of  his  wife's  peo- 
ple. He  had  just  received  news  from  England  that 
the  death  of  three  people  had  made  him  heir  to  a 
noble  title  and  quite  an  inheritance,  but  to  enjoy  their 
possession  he  would  have  to  return  to  England.  "Of 
course,"  said  the  traveler,  "you  are  going  at  once." 
He  looked  around  at  his  family,  and  said :  "  Well,  I 
could  hardly  take  them  with  me,  and  I  am  too  fond 
of  them  to  leave  them  here;  so  I  think  I  shall  stay 
here  myself  and  let  the  other  fellow  enjoy  my  prop- 
erty over  there."  This  was  said  with  a  degree  of 
pathos  which  was  almost  sublime.     He  hastily  mur- 


184  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

mured  something  about  "what  might  have  been," 
etc.,  and  gathering  his  family  and  his  belongings  to- 
gether, proceeded  on  his  way  with  eyes  that  looked 
suspiciously  like  shedding  tears.  There  is  a  very 
striking  suggestion  here  for  Christian  workers.  If 
we  would  win  people  to  a  right  life  we  should  ever 
seek  to  do  it  while  they  are  young,  ere  the  roots  of 
life  run  down  into  evil  habits  and  vicious  associations 
that  make  it  like  tearing  the  heart-strings  to  begin 
anew. 

MORE  ABUNDANT  LIFE. 

During  an  excursion  to  Bodkin  Point  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Patapsco,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Maryland 
Geological  Survey  and  the  Woman's  College  Museum, 
a  fossil  cypress-swamp  deposit  was  found  buried 
twelve  feet  below  the  surface,  it  having  been  exposed 
to  view  by  the  action  of  the  waves  in  wearing  away 
the  bay  cliffs.  Numerous  cypress  stumps  were  seen 
in  upright  position,  with  their  roots  in  place  and  ex- 
hibiting the  peculiar  characteristics  of  these  trees. 
Some  of  the  stumps  were  of  gigantic  size,  the  largest 
measuring  about  ten  feet  at  the  top.  They  were  in  a 
perfect  state  of  preservation.  I  think  a  good  deal  of 
the  old  Sabbath-keeping  was  like  that.  It  was  fos- 
silized. Perhaps  some  people  are  trying  to  have  a 
Sabbath  like  that  now;  if  so,  they  are  doing  more 
harm  than  good.  If  one  will  read  the  New  Testa- 
ment and  look  into  the  character  of  the  Sabbaths  of 
Jesus  they  will  find  that  they  are  filled  with  the  most 
abundant  life  in  way  of  kind  deeds  and  loving  ser- 


SAVED  BY  SACRIFICE.  185 

vices.  We  do  not  want  to  fossilize  the  Christian 
Sabbath,  but  to  preserve  one  full  of  glad  and  joyful 
Christian  service 

SAVED  BY   SACRIFICE. 

Lord  Charles  Beresford  received  a  most  romantic 
reward  for  a  valorous  deed  some  years  since.  One 
bitter  cold  night,  when  his  ship  was  off  the  Falkland 
Islands,  there  was  a  cry  of  "  man  overboard. "  The 
sentry  had  disappeared  beneath  the  floating  ice. 
Tho  clad  in  heavy  garments,  Lord  Charles  instantly 
seized  a  coil  of  rope  and  leaped  into  the  sea.  He 
went  down  and  down,  until  he  began  to  think  the 
other  end  of  the  rope  was  not  fastened  to  anything. 
At  last  he  grasped  his  man,  the  rope  became  taut, 
and  he  began  to  ascend.  The  ship's  corporal  helped 
them  both  out.  Fifteen  years  afterward  Lord  Charles 
was  speaking  at  a  political  meeting  in  England.  The 
hall  was  packed,  and  suddenly  there  was  a  scuffle  at 
the  back.  "  Chuck  him  out !  "  cried  some  one ;  but 
Lord  Charles  invited  the  man  to  come  up  to  the  plat- 
form, and  they  would  listen  to  what  he  had  to  say. 
The  man  struggled  forward  in  great  excitement.  He 
only  wanted  to  shake  hands  with  his  rescuer.  He 
was  the  sailor  who  had  been  saved  by  Lord  Charles 
from  the  icy  sea  off  the  Falkland  Islands.  No  work 
or  investment  ever  brings  back  such  rich  reward  as 
something  that  is  risked  or  sacrificed  of  our  personal 
comfort  for  the  saving  of  another.  God  has  so  made 
the  world  that  it  is  not  the  people  who  are  all  the 
time  "  looking  out  for  number  one  "  who  are  the  safest 


186  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

or  the  happiest,   but  those  who  give  themselves  in 
generous  sympathy  to  sweeten  the  lives  of  others. 


SERVING  THE  KING. 

The  Emperor  of  Austria  was  taking  a  stroll  when 
his  attention  was  attracted  toward  an  unruly  horse, 
who  was  doing  his  best  to  smash  the  dashboard  of 
his  master's  carriage.  Franz  Josef  at  once  went  to 
the  driver's  aid,  and  the  result  was  that  the  horse 
was  quickly  subdued.  The  driver,  whose  entire  cap- 
ital was  invested  in  this  horse  and  carriage,  was  so 
overjoyed  that  he  turned  to  the  Emperor  and  said: 
"Now,  I  don't  know,  sir,  who  you  are,  but  I'd  like 
to  pay  you  in  some  way  for  your  kindness,  and,  there- 
fore, if  you'll  step  into  the  carriage,  I'll  drive  you 
home,  and  I  won't  charge  you  a  cent."  Needless  to 
say,  this  generous  offer  was  not  accepted.  The  poor 
cabman,  however,  had  the  right  spirit.  Our  King, 
Jesus,  has  declared  that  any  kind  and  helpful  deed  we 
do  for  the  poorest  and  most  discouraged  of  our  fellow 
beings  for  his  sake,  he  will  receive  as  tho  we  did 
it  for  him,  and  at  the  last  he  will  say  unto  us:  "In- 
asmuch as  ye  did  it  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these,  my 
brethren,  ye  did  it  unto  me." 

THE  TRAMP  SPIRIT. 

The  newspapers  have  told  the  story  of  a  man  who 
has  been  called  "  the  millionaire  tramp. "  The  man 
never  was  a  millionaire,  but  after  being  a  beggar  for 


ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  CHRIST.  187 

thirty  years  he  inherited  $15,000.  If  he  could  then 
have  found  Christ,  have  been  cleansed  from  his  sins, 
and  have  had  the  tramp  spirit  taken  out  of  him,  the 
last  days  of  his  life  might  have  been  useful;  but  as 
no  such  change  transpired,  his  receiving  the  money 
only  hastened  the  end  of  a  disastrous  and  shameful 
career.  He  still  went  about  like  a  tramp,  and  wasted 
his  money  in  sin,  until  it  was  all  gone,  and  he  died 
among  the  husks  where  he  had  lived  so  long.  It  is 
the  spirit  of  one's  life  that  counts.  Paul  says  that 
if  any  man  have  not  the  spirit  of  Christ  he  is  none  of 
His.  It  is  not  wealth,  nor  position,  nor  any  outward 
success  that  can  make  a  noble  character  in  man  or 
woman.  It  is  the  clean  heart  and  the  high  fellow- 
ship which  Christ  is  so  ready  to  give  to  all  who  will 
receive  Him. 


ACQUAINTANCE  WITH  CHRIST. 

The  Emperor  of  Germany  was  returning  to  Pots- 
dam one  evening  after  a  long  walk,  and,  feeling  very 
tired,  he  looked  out  in  all  directions  for  a  carriage. 
However,  the  only  vehicle  in  sight  was  a  farm-wagon, 
in  which  sat  a  young  peasant  woman.  Por  lack  of  a 
better  conveyance  the  Emperor  decided  to  ride  back 
to  Potsdam  in  this  one,  and  he  requested  the  woman 
to  give  him  a  seat.  She  looked  at  him  rather  sus- 
piciously, and,  seeing  that  he  was  covered  with  dust, 
positively  refused  to  let  him  get  into  the  wagon.  "  I 
don't  like  his  looks,"  she  said,  half  aloud,  as  she  urged 
her  horse  to  a  trot,  "  and  I  wouldn't  feel  easy  with  a 


188  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

fellow  like  that  beside  me. "  A  hundred  yards  farther 
on  she  met  a  soldier,  who  stopped  her  and  asked, 
"What  did  the  Emperor  want  of  you?"  "I  don't 
understand  you,"  she  replied.  When  he  told  her 
that  the  dust-covered  officer  whom  she  had  treated 
with  such  scant  courtesy  was  the  ruler  of  Germany, 
she  trembled  with  fear,  and  at  once  lashed  her  horse 
into  a  gallop  and  quickly  disappeared  into  the  dark- 
ness. We  need  to  be  watchful  lest  we  refuse  our 
Christ  a  kindly  hand  when  he  appears  in  the  dusty 
garb  of  toil  and  weariness. 

ABUNDANCE  WAITING  ON  APPETITE. 

A  naturalist,  writing  of  the  habits  of  certain  ani- 
mals, says  that  tho  there  is  abundant  evidence  that 
many  animals  can  exist  without  water  for  long  pe- 
riods, this  abstinence  is  not  voluntary,  and  when  un- 
duly protracted  causes  suffering  and  loss  of  health. 
Many  people  suppose  that  cats  do  not  care  for  water 
and  never  provide  them  with  water-pans.  This  is  a 
mistake;  the  cats,  like  the  tigers  and  jaguars,  thirst 
for  water,  and  the  numerous  cases  of  cats  upsetting 
and  breaking  flower-vases  on  tables  are  usually  due 
not  to  mischief  but  to  the  cat's  effort  to  drink  the 
water  in  which  the  flowers  are  set.  Jesus  puts  the 
hungry  and  the  thirsty  among  those  specially  marked 
for  blessing  in  the  Beatitudes.  One  need  not  thirst 
for  the  Water  of  Life  in  vain.  Whosoever  will  may 
come  and  partake  freely. 


A  REFUGE  FOR  THE  SOUL.  189 

OBEDIENCE  BETTER  THAN  SACRmCE. 
A  wealthy  man  called  on  his  dentist  in  great  dis- 
tress over  a  broken  front  tooth.  The  dentist  told 
him  it  must  come  out.  "Ko,  no,  you  must  build  it 
up,"  exclaimed  the  man  of  riches.  "I  can't  spare 
that  tooth.  Its  removal  would  make  my  mouth  look 
like  an  open  port-hole. "  "  Oh,  well,  I  can  replace 
it, "  complacently  answered  the  dentist.  "  The  old 
one  must  certainly  come  out,  but  I  will  put  in  a  new 
one  that  will  make  you  look  better  than  ever  before. 
It  will  be  firm  and  regular  and  much  handsomer  than 
the  old  one."  "Ah!"  muttered  the  wealthy  man. 
"That's  what  I  want,  make  it  as  attractive  as  possi- 
ble. Say,  doctor,  couldn't  you  set  a  large  diamond 
in  the  middle  of  it? "  " Oh,  no,  I  wouldn't  do  that," 
replied  the  dentist,  hastily.  "  Of  course  I  know  you 
can  well  afford  it,  but  it  would  look — well,  just  a 
trifle  too  conspicuous,  don't  you  know."  Perhaps 
the  rich  man  was  only  joking,  but  there  are  a  good 
many  people  who  wear  their  profession  of  religion 
like  that.  It  is  all  show  and  display,  and  no  loving 
obedience  or  humble  service  in  it.  One  ounce  of  obe- 
dience is  worth  a  ton  of  showy  sacrifice. 

A  REFUGE  FOR  THE  SOUL. 

A  very  singular  thing  happened  on  a  trip  of  the 
steamer  Kennebec  from  Maine  ports  to  Boston.  The 
steamer  was  off  Cape  Elizabeth,  when  a  dove,  similar 
to  the  common  doves  in  the  street,  flew  on  board. 
He  remained  there  for  some  time,   but  was  finally 


100  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

frightened  off.  Whenever  he  left  the  boat  he  was 
followed  and  chased  by  the  sea-gulls,  until  obliged  to 
again  alight.  At  last,  thoroughly  tired  out,  and  when 
night  was  approaching,  he  settled  on  the  deck,  crawled 
under  one  of  the  life-boats,  and  there  remained  until 
Boston  was  reached,  when  he  flew  off,  none  the  worse 
for  his  ride.  Sometimes  a  soul  finds  refuge  in  Christ, 
only  to  be  frightened  away  by  the  sight  of  some  un- 
expected duty;  but  chased  again  by  the  sins  of  the 
world,  it  is  driven  back  to  the  soul's  refuge,  and  finds 
finally  permanent  protection  and  perfect  peace. 

CHRISTIAN  FELLOWSHIP. 

Christianity  is  a  social  religion.  It  loses  power 
whenever  the  social  element  is  left  out.  I  have  heard 
many  people  say  that  they  did  not  care  to  go  to  a 
certain  church  because  the  people  were  not  sociable, 
but  I  have  never  heard  any  one  say  yet  that  they 
stayed  away  from  the  church  because  the  people  were 
so  friendly  and  sociable  they  could  not  stand  it. 
Eich  or  poor,  learned  or  unlearned,  we  all  have  a 
craving  for  fellowship.  The  saloon  has  much  of  its 
power  in  this  hunger  of  the  heart  to  find  some  sort  of 
fraternal  greeting.  I  asked  a  man  the  other  night 
why  he  went  to  the  saloon  and  put  himself  in  the 
way  of  drinking,  when  he  really  desired  to  stop  it, 
and  his  answer  was :  "  All  the  people  who  are  willing 
to  talk  to  me  are  there.  I  must  go  where  my  friends 
are."  Let  us  make  the  church  so  full  of  social  kind- 
ness that  the  people  who  come  in  will  find  friends 
with  us. 


SACRIFICING  THE  LESS  FOR  THE  GREATER.    191 


COWARDICE   CONTAGIOUS. 

That  is  a  very  interestiug  old  story  in  the  Book  of 
Deuteronomy  which  sets  forth  the  instructions  to  the 
priests  and  the  officers  about  the  preparation  for  a 
battle.  The  officers  were  instructed  to  go  around 
among  the  soldiers  and  speak  with  them,  and  if  they 
found  there  a  man  who  was  a  coward,  and  who  was 
afraid  the  army  was  going  to  be  whipped,  they  were 
to  send  these  cowards  home  lest  they  have  a  bad  influ- 
ence on  the  other  soldiers,  and  spread  their  cowardice 
through  the  army.  Gideon  also  was  instructed  to 
send  home  all  his  cowards  before  he  went  to  battle. 
These  two  cases  show  us  what  God  thinks  of  cow- 
ards. He  not  only  considers  such  an  one  of  no  use 
in  a  fight,  but  thinks  he  is  dangerous  to  have  along. 
A  coward  is  like  a  rotten  apple  in  a  barrel;  it  not 
only  is  of  no  value,  but  it  starts  the  other  apples  to 
rotting  all  around  it.  Yet  courage  can  be  cultivated 
like  anything  else.  Many  people  who  are  naturally 
fearful  have  overcome  their  fears  and  forced  them- 
selves to  stand  bravely  for  the  right  cause. 

SACRIHONG  THE  LESS  FOR  THE  GREATER. 

The  highest  kind  of  courage  is  born  of  reason  which 
deliberately  endures  discomfort,  or  sacrifices  the  lesser 
good,  that  one  may  have  the  best.  Sir  Edward  Brad- 
ford, who  as  the  head  of  the  London  police  force  be- 
came noted  because  of  the  admirable  way  in  which 
he  kept  order  during  the  Queen's  jubilee,    has  an 


192  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

empty  sleeve  where  his  left  arm  used  to  be.  Years 
ago,  while  still  an  officer  in  India,  he  was  a  very  keen 
sportsman,  with  a  strong  liking  for  that  most  danger- 
ous of  all  pastimes — tiger  shooting.  One  day  he 
fired  at  a  tiger,  which,  only  wounded,  charged  upon 
him,  and  bore  him  to  the  ground.  Never  losing  his 
presence  of  mind  for  a  moment,  the  intrepid  hunter, 
with  a  view  to  preventing  the  infuriated  animal  from 
attacking  his  head,  thrust  within  its  jaws  his  left 
arm.  The  tiger  simply  gnawed  it  off,  but,  as  the 
hunter  had  anticipated,  while  it  was  taking  time  for 
this,  his  comrades  came  up  and  rescued  him.  No 
wonder  that  the  man  who  could  do  that  could  inspire 
the  London  police  to  heroism  and  fidelity. 

DISHONORING  OUR  COLORS. 

It  is  said  that  the  King  of  Siam  left  Loudon  in 
great  anger  because  he  was  not  made  by  Queen  Vic- 
toria a  Knight  of  the  Garter.  He  naturally  thought, 
with  good  reason,  that  as  the  Shah  of  Persia  and  the 
Sultan  of  Turkey  were  both  Knights  of  the  Garter, 
he  ought  to  be  equally  honored.  But  it  is  now  said 
that  Queen  Victoria  is  determined  that  only  Christian 
sovereigns  shall  hereafter  receive  the  Order  of  the 
Garter,  as  the  knight's  oath  can  only  be  taken  by  a 
Christian.  One  can  not  help  but  reflect  that  Queen 
Victoria  should  have  thought  of  that  sooner.  What 
an  incongruity  to  regard  the  Sultan  of  Turkey  as  a 
knight  of  Christ  murdering  thousands  of  Christian 
Armenians !     Alas !  there  are  many  that  can  not  throw 


OUR  HEAVENLY  FLIGHT.  193 

stones  at  the  Sultan  of  Turkey  for  dishonoring  his 
colors  without  remembering  their  own  inconsistencies 
as  Christians.  To  wear  the  colors  of  Christ  while  we 
are  living  contrary  to  his  spirit  is  to  put  him  to  an 
open  shame. 

DEVOTION  TO  LIBERTY. 

Fifty  thousand  people  gathered  in  and  around  Madi- 
son Square  to  greet  Miss  Cisneros,  the  Cuban  heroine, 
and  Karl  Decker  her  rescuer.  When  she  appeared  on 
the  platform  the  men  yelled  and  waved  their  hats,  the 
women  waved  their  handkerchiefs,  and  the  band 
played  a  Cuban  battle-song.  I  would  we  could  have 
the  same  enthusiastic  devotion  to  libertj'  in  church 
circles,  in  seeking  to  rescue  those  who  are  held  in 
cruel  bondage  by  the  despotism  of  sin.  Christ  came 
into  this  world  as  a  liberator,  and  we  who  love  him 
are  his  messengers  to  carry  the  good  news  of  freedom 
to  those  who  are  in  bondage  to  evil. 

OUR  HEAVENLY  FLIGHT. 

Of  the  carrier-pigeons  taken  to  Alaska  during  the 
Klondike  gold  excitement,  the  first  to  reach  home 
alighted  in  the  home-cote  in  Portland,  Ore.,  Septem- 
ber 2,  1897.  On  its  leg  was  a  slip  of  paper  contain- 
ing the  following :  "  On  the  summit  of  Chilkoot  Pass, 
August  25th.  To  Robert  Uhlman,  Portland.  We 
are  all  well  and  in  good  spirits.  Tell  every  one  you 
know  not  to  come  here  this  winter.  Thomas  Cain." 
The  pigeon  had  flown  over  a  thousand  miles,  above 
13 


194  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

mountains  and  wide  stretches  of  forest  and  through 
innumerable  dangers  from  hawks  and  eagles,  on  its 
journey  home.  It  was  tired,  but  it  was  at  home. 
The  same  God  who  put  the  homing  instinct  into  the 
breast  of  the  pigeon  has  put  into  our  hearts  the  hope 
and  promise  of  immortality.  Let  us  dare  all  obsta- 
cles and  press  forward  till  we  reach  home. 

WHERE  JESUS  REIGNS. 

Melville  Wynans  Miller  sings  with  graphic  strains, 
every  note  a  stroke  from  a  painter's  brush,  a  song 
portraying  the  illumination  and  freedom  of  the  soul 
where  Christ  has  come  to  reign  supreme. 

"  Where  Jesus  reigns  there  is  no  night, 
For  he  is  Wisdom,  Love,  and  Light ; 
No  raging  sea,  nor  tempest  dread. 
But  quietness  and  calm,  instead  ; 
No  anxious  care,  no  blind  unrest, 
No  heavy  heart  by  guilt  oppressed ; 
No  discontent,  nor  gloomy  days, 
But  brightest  hope  and  sweetest  praise  ; 
No  stumbling  oft,  nor  galling  chains. 
No  shame,  no  sin,  where  Jesus  reigns.  " 

BURNING  OUT  OUR  SINS. 

Not  long  ago  an  enormous  fire  became  kindled  in 
Virginia's  famous  jungle,  the  Dismal  Swamp.  It 
was  started  by  hunters,  and  spread  rapidly  through 
the  undergrowth  and  frost-bitten  shrubbery,  giving 
forth  great  clouds  of  thick  smoke.  So  extensive  was 
it  that  hundreds  of  wild  animals,  such  as  bear  and 


PROTECTION  AGAINST  EVIL.  195 

fox  and  deer,  as  well  as  many  smaller  animals,  were 
driven  out  into  the  farming  settlements,  where  they 
were  speedily  killed  by  hunters.  When  the  refining 
fire  of  the  Holy  Spirit  goes  through  a  heart  that  has 
been  the  abode  of  sinful  passions  and  lusts,  it  drives 
them  out  from  their  hidden  lairs  to  be  destroyed. 

PROTECTION  AGAINST  EVIL. 

A  gang  of  fifty  or  sixty  Kafirs,  with  a  white  man 
as  superintendent,  was  employed  in  the  construction 
of  a  road  in  South  Africa.  In  the  course  of  their 
work  they  came  on  a  huge  stone  which  it  was  neces- 
sary to  remove,  but  beneath  it  was  the  home  of  a 
large  black  mamba,  well  known  to  the  neighboring 
inhabitants  as  being  old,  and  therefore  very  venom- 
ous. The  mamba  is  the  most  deadly  of  South  Afri- 
can snakes,  and  the  superintendent  anticipated  some 
trouble  over  that  rock.  When  they  reached  it  he 
offered  a  prize  for  the  snake's  skin,  and  a  slim  youth 
sauntered  forward  and  amid  the  protestations  of  the 
rest  declared  himself  equal  to  the  task.  He  took 
from  his  neck  what  looked  like  a  bit  of  shriveled 
stick,  chewed  it,  swallowed  some  of  it,  spat  out  the 
rest  on  his  hands,  and  proceeded  to  rub  his  glisten- 
ing brown  body  and  limbs  all  over.  Then,  taking 
up  his  stick,  and  chanting  a  song  of  defiance,  he  ad- 
vanced with  great  confidence  to  the  boulder.  There 
he  roused  up  the  mamba,  which,  in  fury  at  being  dis- 
turbed, bit  him  in  the  lip  with  great  venom.  The 
boy  took  no  notice  of  the  bite,  but  broke  the  snake's 


196  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

back  with  his  stick,  and,  bringing  him  to  his  master, 
asked  for  the  reward ;  obtaining  which  he  went  back 
to  his  woi-k.  The  bite  of  the  reptile  had  no  effect 
whatever  on  him.  He  refused  to  disclose  the  secret 
of  his  antidote,  which,  he  said,  had  been  handed 
down  in  his  family  for  generations.  Those  who  trust 
Christ  and  live  in  his  spirit  have  a  sure  antidote 
against  the  poison  of  any  evil  that  may  come  against 
them.  Sin  can  not  harm  or  gain  power  over  one  who 
lives  in  that  spirit. 

SWEPT  BY  THE  GALE. 

During  the  fall  and  winter  gales  on  the  Atlantic 
coast,  many  land  birds,  such  as  partridge  and  quail, 
are  quite  frequently  blown  out  to  sea  by  a  strong  hur- 
ricane, where  they  are  sometimes  picked  up  by  the 
fishermen.  They  are  usually  caught  by  the  gale  when 
in  flight,  and  before  they  can  recover  themselves  are 
hurried  out  beyond  the  shore  and  dropped  into  the 
water.  With  their  plumage  soaked  with  the  spray 
they  become  helpless,  and  can  not  reach  the  shore  in 
the  face  of  the  wind.  Many  Christians  who  are  really 
striving  to  live  good  lives  are  caught  by  the  winds  of 
worldliness  and  swept  out  of  the  atmosphere  in  which 
a  Christian  life  can  be  lived.  Caught  in  such  a  tempest, 
the  only  hope  is  in  the  divine  Christ  who  stilled  the 
gale  that  threatened  disaster  to  the  little  boat  in  which 
his  disciples  were  sailing  on  the  Sea  of  Galilee  that 
dark  night  when  he  drew  near  and  said :  "  Lo !  it  is 
I,  be  not  afraid!" 


HOW  TO  BUILD  STRONG  CHARACTERS.   197 


LOSING  THE  GREAT  TO  SAVE  THE  LITTLE. 

A  man  lost  his  life  in  a  New  York  City  fire  through 
his  own  folly.  He  lived  with  his  wife  on  the  fourth 
floor.  The  fire  started  in  the  kitchen  of  the  flat  oc- 
cupied by  him.  A  woman  living  on  the  same  floor 
first  saw  the  flames,  and  her  cries  of  terror  awakened 
the  tenants.  The  fire  was  then  crackling  fiercely  near 
an  airshaft  and  filled  the  halls  with  smoke.  An  offi- 
cer came  on  the  man  and  his  wife,  and  was  astonished 
to  see  that  the  man  was  determined  to  go  back  while 
the  wife  was  trying  to  drag  him  to  safety.  The  offi- 
cer went  to  her  assistance,  and  they  soon  pulled  the 
man  out  of  the  house.  A  little  later,  some  firemen 
who  were  hauling  a  line  of  hose  through  the  scuttle 
in  the  roof  found  the  foolish  fellow  near  his  flat  with 
his  clothing  almost  burned  from  his  body.  He  had 
gone  back  into  his  room  for  some  papers,  which  he 
had  secured,  only  to  have  them  burn  in  his  hands. 
He  got  the  papers,  but  lost  his  life.  There  are  many 
that  are  holding  on  to  worldly  treasures  at  the  ex- 
pense of  everything  that  can  make  life  precious. 
They  are  losing  their  souls  to  obtain  gain  that  must 
soon  be  loss. 

HOW  TO  BUILD  STRONG  CHARACTERS. 

We  are  told  that  the  Sultan's  champion  wrestler, 
Ismail  Yousarf,  came  to  the  United  States  to  see 
whether  any  man  in  America  could  lay  him  on  his 
back.     The  Turk   never   lost   a  fall,  it  is   said,  and 


198  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

those  who  saw  him  in  exercise  claimed  that  his  equal 
never  lived.  His  boast  of  strength  brought  up  the 
old  and  always  interesting  question  whether  any 
one  race  or  nationality  can  produce  the  strongest 
men  in  the  world.  That  involves  as  important  dif- 
ferences in  climate,  food,  and  habits  as  in  size  and 
physical  appearance.  However  it  may  be  of  physical 
strength,  we  know  that  spiritual  strength  is  equally 
within  the  reach  of  all  nationalities.  Whoever  gives 
Christ  the  right  of  way  in  his  heart  is  nerved  with 
the  same  divine  power  that  made  him  spotless  and 
pure  and  victorious  amid  all  the  world's  sin  and 
defilement.  We  can  do  all  things  if  we  have  his 
strength. 

RELIGION  FOR  USE. 

What  is  said  to  be  the  smallest  electric  motor  in 
the  world  is  worn  as  a  scarf-pin  by  its  designer,  a 
Texan  jeweler  and  watchmaker.  It  weighs,  com- 
plete, one  pennyweight  and  three  grains.  When 
fixed  in  the  scarf  it  looks  like  a  gold  charm,  the  front 
and  the  commutator  segment  being  made  of  that 
metal.  Of  course  all  the  machinery  is  of  a  very  deli- 
cate sort.  The  motor  is  started  by  a  gold  switch  on 
a  black  rubber  base,  with  a  pin  adjustment  which  is 
worn  on  the  lapel  of  the  vest.  The  current  for  the 
operation  of  this  novel  machine  is  furnished  by  a 
small  chlorid  of  silver  battery  which  is  carried  in 
the  vest  pocket.  The  motor  runs  at  a  very  high 
speed,  and  its  humming  can  be  distinctly  heard  by 
any  one  standing  near  the  wearer.     Of  course  this 


SPIRITUAL  PHOTOGRAPHY.  199 

little  motor  is  just  for  show.  It  produces  neither 
light  nor  power  nor  heat  for  any  useful  purpose.  It 
is  a  sad  thing  that  so  many  people's  religion  is  of 
that  sort.  Better  an  ounce  of  going  about  doing 
good,  like  the  Master,  than  any  amount  of  religion 
for  display.  We  want  a  spiritual  motor  that  sets  us 
to  work  for  Christ. 


THE  POWER  OF  A  GREAT  PASSION. 

The  midwinter  rush  to  Alaska  in  1897-98  perhaps 
exceeded  the  wild  recklessness  of  the  preceding  sum- 
mer. The  steamship  Corona  sailed  from  Seattle  the 
last  week  in  December,  carrying  every  passenger  that 
the  law  would  permit,  and  was  compelled  to  refuse  a 
great  many  people  for  lack  of  space.  These  people 
faced  Arctip  cold  and  certain  hardships  with  almost 
no  reasonable  possibility  of  success  to  lighten  the  pic- 
ture. This  is  what  a  great  passion  for  gold  will  drive 
men  to  do.  When  men  will  do  that  much  for  the 
bare  possibility  of  digging  in  rich  earth  for  the  gold 
that  perishes  so  soon,  how  much  more  ought  we  to  be 
driven  by  a  love  for  immortal  souls  to  save  up  the 
treasure  that  will  never  perish ! 

SPIRITUAL  PHOTOGRAPHY. 

Thomas  A.  Edison,  Jr.,  the  son  of  the  great  in- 
ventor, believes  that  he  has  invented  a  way  of  photo- 
graphing a  thought.  By  means  of  the  Eoentgen  rays, 
applied  to  the  back  of  a  man's  head,  he  photographed 


200  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

round  objects,  which  Mr.  Edison  believes  to  be  the 
quarter  of  a  dollar  upon  which  the  subject  had,  ac- 
cording to  directions,  concentrated  his  thought.  This 
image  was  secured  on  an  extremely  sensitive  plate, 
the  making  of  which  is  Mr.  Edison's  secret.  On  the 
sensitive  plate  of  the  human  mind  God  has  always 
photographed  our  thoughts  and  treasured  them  up  in 
our  memories,  and  tho  it  may  startle  us  to  feel  that  a 
fellow-being  may  turn  a  light  on  us  that  will  disclose 
the  secret  of  our  thought,  there  has  never  been  an 
hour  when  He  who  is  our  judge,  and  to  whom  we  must 
give  an  account,  has  not  read  the  most  secret  medita- 
tions of  our  souls. 

THE  SERFS  OF  SIN. 

The  closing  hours  of  a  bicycle  race  in  New  York 
City  presented  a  horrible  spectacle.  With  the  dawn 
of  the  sixth  day  many  of  the  riders  were  so  bruised 
and  tired  that  they  were  on  the  verge  of  physical  col- 
lapse. Nature  rebelled  at  the  outrageous  mental  and 
physical  strain,  and  various  forms  of  hallucination 
seized  them.  One  cried  for  water — "  only  a  drop  of 
water  " — as  despairingly  as  a  parched,  haggard  wan- 
derer in  Sahara,  but  not  one  drop  was  the  sufferer 
allowed.  The  men  seemed  more  like  prisoners  sen- 
tenced to  climb  over  an  endless  treadmill  than  any  • 
thing  else.  The  outcome  of  the  sinner's  race  of  life 
is  like  that.  They  start  off  bright  and  gay  like  Sam- 
son playing  with  Delilah,  but  the  outcome  is  like  the 
shorn  Samson  with  the  blind  eyes  working  in  the 
place  of  an  ox  in  the  mill  of  his  enemies. 


THE  GNAWING   WORM  OF  INGRATITUDE.    201 

THE  FLOWER  OF  GRATITUDE. 

The  story  of  the  ten  lepers  whom  Christ  sent  away 
to  be  healed,  and  who  were  healed  as  they  went,  nine 
of  them  going  their  own  way,  perhaps  going  home  to 
tell  their  friends  in  their  great  gladness,  leaving  but 
one  to  come  back  to  thank  Christ  publicly  for  his 
mercy,  is  often  duplicated  in  our  own  day.  There  is 
no  reason  for  believing  that  any  of  these  ten  men  were 
not  sincere  and  good — they  all  had  faith  enough  to  be 
healed — but  only  one  of  them  had  the  beautiful  grace 
of  gratitude.  Christ  seems  to  have  felt  hurt  that  the 
others  should  have  been  so  lacking.  God  loves  beauty, 
and  covers  the  rocks  with  mosses,  and  the  hillsides 
and  the  forests  with  flowers;  gratitude  is  like  the 
mosses  and  the  flowers  which  clamber  over  the  rock 
and  make  at  attractive.  It  is  not  enough  that  we  are 
good ;  we  ought  to  be  good  in  as  gracious  and  as  beau- 
tiful a  way  as  possible.  Paul  says  we  ought  not  to 
let  our  good  be  evil  spoken  of. 

THE  GNAWING  WORM  OF  INGRATITUDE. 

The  newspapers  tell  the  story  of  a  man  living  in 
Kentucky,  who  has  been  for  many  years  a  hermit. 
In  his  youth  he  was  a  social  leader,  and  very  popular 
with  a  large  circle  of  friends.  When  the  war  broke 
out  he  entered  the  Confederate  army,  and  made  a 
good  soldier  to  the  end.  When  he  returned  home  he 
found  his  slaves  free,  and  his  property  greatly  dam- 
aged.    The  emancipation  of  his  negroes  affected  him 


202  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

seriously,  and  he  brooded  over  it  constantly.  He 
became  sullen  and  morose,  declining  all  overtures  of 
friendliness  on  the  part  of  his  neighbors.  He  declared 
that  the  Lord  had  dealt  harshly  and  unjustly  with  him 
in  depriving  him  of  his  slaves,  and  out  of  revenge  he 
registered  a  ten  "ble  oath  that  he  would  never  again 
put  his  foot  on  the  Lord's  ground.  And  so  his  long 
life  has  been  soured  and  darkened,  and  the  gnawing 
worm  of  his  ingratitude  has  eaten  all  joy  out  of  his 
heart.     The  grateful  soul  is  the  happy  soul. 

GOD'S  ENGINEERING. 

What  is  believed  to  be  one  of  the  greatest  engineer- 
ing feats  on  record  was  accomplished  in  Philadelphia. 
The  old  iron  span  in  the  Pennsylvania  railroad  bridge 
crossing  the  Schuylkill  Kiver,  in  Pairmount  Park,  was 
replaced  by  a  new  structure  of  steel  in  the  space  of 
two  minutes  and  twenty-eight  seconds,  accurately 
timed.  The  substitution  of  the  new  bridge  for  the 
old  was  effected  between  the  passage  of  two  way 
trains  over  the  bridge  only  nine  minutes  apart — that 
is,  one  train  went  over  the  old  bridge,  and  nine  min- 
utes later  the  train  that  followed  ran  over  the  new 
bridge.  Seventeen  hundred  tons  were  lifted  out  and 
into  place  by  adequate  machinery  without  delaying  a 
train.  That  is  surely  a  wonderful  piece  of  engineer- 
ing for  a  man  to  perform,  but  how  slight  compared 
to  the  engineering  of  Him  who  takes  care  of  all  the 
worlds  and  never  misses  track  of  one !  Even  in  our 
own  small  world  how  marvelous  is  the  engineering 


THE  WORST  FOE  OF  ALL.  203 

skill  that  brings  the  sunrise  always  on  time,  and 
never  permits  the  restful  night  to  be  a  moment  over- 
due. The  seasons  come  and  go  in  orderly  precision, 
seedtime  and  harvest  do  not  fail.  Surely  we  may 
trust  the  affairs  of  our  little  lives,  with  perfect  confi- 
dence, iu  the  hand  of  the  Great  Engineer. 

SKELETONS  BESIDE  THE  TRAIL. 

A  young  man  who  went  to  the  Klondike  wrote 
home  to  his  father,  giving  a  most  graphic  picture  of 
running  the  White  Horse  rapids.  He  says  the  jour- 
ney from  Dyea  to  Klondike  is  dotted  with  stakes 
marking  the  last  resting-place  of  unfortunate  miners 
who  fell  by  the  wayside.  He  also  says  he  saw  many 
skeletons  and  bodies  of  men  who  had  lost  their  lives 
in  the  rapids  and  were  thrown  up  on  to  the  rocks  or 
sandbars  where  they  could  not  be  reached  to  be  bur- 
ied. Alas !  how  many  such  skeletons  there  are  along 
the  current  of  life — men  caught  in  the  whirlpool  of 
sin  and  flung  out  bruised  and  dead  on  the  wreckage 
pile! 

THE  WORST  FOE  OF  ALL. 

The  chief  mission  of  the  church  is  to  save  souls. 
Anything  that  harms  men  or  women  or  children  is 
the  deadly  foe  of  the  church.  This  makes  the  liquor 
saloon  the  worst  foe  on  earth  to  the  modern  church. 
Its  wrecks  are  everywhere.  In  Mount  Vernon,  N.  Y., 
a  man  who  had  once  been  a  brilliant  lawyer,  had  had 
a  beautiful  home,  a  lovely  wife  and  daughter,  and 


204  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

more  than  $100,000  worth  of  property,  walked  into 
a  barroom  and  ordered  a  drink  of  whisky.  He  swal- 
lowed the  liquor  with  a  smack  of  his  lips ;  he  called 
for  another,  and  then  another,  and  then  said  to  the 
bartender :  *'  I  have  been  in  a  sanitarium  trying  to 
cure  my  desire  for  liquor,  but  it's  no  use.  You  see, 
I  have  gone  back  to  my  old  habits ;  to-night  you  will 
find  my  dead  body  on  yonder  tracks.  I  am  going  to 
end  it  all."  He  took  another  drink,  and  walked 
straight  to  the  railroad  platform,  and,  flinging  him- 
self in  front  of  an  express  train,  was  crushed  to  death. 
If  the  church  of  Jesus  Christ  will  not  fight  such  a 
foe,  then  surely  nothing  could  arouse  her  to  action. 

MORAL  BEAUTY. 

On  an  elevated  railroad  train  in  New  York  City 
were  a  couple  of  little  folks  from  the  slums.  One  of 
them  was  the  most  attractive,  dirty  little  creature 
you  ever  saw.  She  had  a  mop  of  coarse  black  hair, 
a  loose  strand  of  which  fell  over  her  forehead  and 
kept  getting  into  her  eyes  without  in  the  least  seem- 
ing to  trouble  her.  Her  long,  worn  skirt  clung  to  her 
limbs,  and  on  her  lap  reposed  a  basket  covered  with 
oilcloth.  Facing  her  in  the  car  sat  two  handsomely 
dressed  women.  The  ladies  were  attracted  by  her 
bright  face  and  smiled  at  her.  Her  eyes  and  lips 
flashed  instant  response,  and  an  interchange  of  smiles 
and  nods  took  place  which  interested  every  passenger 
in  sight.  Delight  at  the  attention  of  such  lovely 
creatures  was  expressed  in  her  every  glance.     Pres- 


MANHOOD  GREATER  THAN  WEALTH.      205 

eutly  she  ran  her  hand  down  into  the  basket  and 
brought  forth  two  pink  objects  on  long  pins — the  lit- 
tle artificial  roses  often  seen  in  the  hands  of  fakirs. 
She  dropped  her  basket  and  hurried  up  to  the  women 
and  presented  to  them  these  ornaments.  As  she  re- 
turned to  her  seat  her  face  was  radiant  with  joy. 
When  the  ladies  had  passed  out  she  called  to  her 
companion  in  broken  English,  "  Oh,  they  ware  be- 
yutiful,  be-yutiful,  an'  they  ware  my  friendts." 
Moral  beauty  is  even  more  attractive  than  physical 
beauty.  As  one  gives  great  pleasure  simply  by  being 
beautiful,  so  by  being  morally  beautiful  one  is  con- 
stantly bestowing  both  pleasure  and  inspiration;  for 
while  physical  beauty  is  not  permitted  to  all,  the 
beauty  of  the  spiritual  graces  is  within  the  reach  of 
every  soul  who  will  yield  the  heart  to  its  cultivation. 

MANHOOD  GREATER  THAN  WEALTH. 

A  young  clerk  in  a  dry-goods  store  came  into  pos- 
session of  a  large  fortune  by  inheritance  from  a  dis- 
tant relative.  The  young  man  was  one  day  called  to 
his  employer's  private  oflBce,  and  listened  with  amaze- 
ment to  the  news  as  it  was  imparted  to  him  by  a  law- 
yer. "  I  suppose  I  must  not  expect  your  services  as 
clerk  any  longer,"  said  the  merchant  with  a  smile. 
"I  shall  be  sorry  to  lose  you."  "Oh,  I  shall  stay 
my  month  out,  of  course,  sir, "  said  the  boy,  promptly. 
"I  shouldn't  want  to  break  my  word  just  because  I've 
had  some  money  left  me."  The  two  elder  men  ex- 
chajiged  glances.     The  money  referred  to  was  nearly 


206  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

$300,000.  "Well,"  said  the  lawyer,  stroking  his 
mouth  to  conceal  his  expression,  "  I  should  like  an 
hour  of  your  time  between  ten  and  four  to-morrow, 
my  young  friend,  as  it  will  be  necessary  for  you  to 
read  and  sign  some  papers."  *'Yes,  sir,"  said  the 
clerk.  "I  always  take  my  luncheon  at  11:45.  I'll 
take  that  hour  for  you,  instead,  to-morrow.  If  I  eat 
a  good  breakfast  I  can  get  along  all  right  until  six 
o'clock."  That  was  a  sensible  boy.  He  had  hold  of 
the  right  end  of  life.  It  is  not  what  we  have  but 
what  we  are  which  counts  most.  That  is  what  Christ 
meant  when  he  said,  "A  man's  life  consisteth  not  in 
the  abundance  of  the  things  which  he  possesseth." 

THE  RING  OF  LOVE. 

Somebody  has  hunted  up  an  old  book  written  by 
Camillius  Leonardus  which  tells  much  of  interest 
about  jewels,  and  names  a  number  of  stones  that 
either  are  no  longer  found  or  were  creations  of  the 
author's  imagination.  The  latter  seems  the  more 
probable  from  Leonardus's  description  of  the  ale- 
coria,  which,  he  says,  not  alone  renders  a  man  invis- 
ible, but,  "being  held  in  the  mouth,  allays  thirst." 
He  also  tells  of  the  bezoar,  which  is  taken  from  the 
body  of  some  animal,  and  is  infallible  against  melan- 
choly. He  credits  Queen  Elizabeth  with  wearing  a 
bezoar,  and  says  Charles  V.  had  four  of  them.  The 
four  rings,  however,  of  most  historical  interest  were 
those  presented  by  Popo  Innocent  to  King  John. 
The  monarch  was  urged  to  note  with  extreme  care 


THE  PERFUME  OF  CHRISTIAN  LIFE.      207 

the  shape  of  the  rings,  their  number,  color,  and  mat- 
ter. Number  4  being  a  square,  typified  firmness  of 
mind,  fixed  stedfastly  on  the  four  cardinal  virtues. 
The  blue  color  of  the  sapphire  denoted  faith,  the 
green  of  the  emerald  hope,  the  crimson  of  the  ruby 
charity,  and  the  splendor  of  the  topaz  good  works. 
The  rings  themselves  represented  eternity,  with  nei- 
ther beginning  nor  end;  gold,  which  was  the  matter, 
and,  according  to  Solomon,  the  most  precious  of  met- 
als, signified  wisdom,  more  to  be  desired  than  riches 
and  power.  But  the  best  ring  of  all  is  the  ring  of 
love  which  the  Heavenly  Father  bestows  upon  the 
prodigal  who  comes  back  from  sin.  The  breadth  of 
God's  love  is  nowhere  so  strongly  indicated  as  in  the 
promise  to  bestow  this  ring  of  forgiveness  on  the  most 
wretched  sinner  who  will  come  back  to  the  Father's 
house. 

the' PERFUME  OF  CHRISTIAN  LIFE. 

Queen  Elizabeth  of  England  was  a  great  lover  of 
flotvers,  and  it  was  a  real  sorrow  to  her  when  in  the 
winter  the  wild  flowers  of  the  fields  and  gardens  with- 
ered. Out  of  this  royal  love  of  flowers  grew  the  most 
famous  garden  of  the  world.  With  her  own  hands 
Queen  Elizabeth  laid  out  the  grounds  that  were  to 
produce  and  fructify  the  flowers  for  her  drawing- 
room.  She  started  to  raise  flowers  for  her  own  per- 
sonal gratification,  and  ended  by  producing  flowers 
and  plants  for  the  millions.  No  single  desire  of  an 
impetuous  queen  ever  yielded  better  fruit.  On  Queen 
Elizabeth's  little  flower-garden  the  England  of  to-day 


208  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

gazes  with  national  pride.  Its  original  purpose  of 
supplying  the  royal  table  with  cut  flowers  is  still  ob- 
served, but  that  is  a  small  incidental  feature  of  the 
Kew  garden.  The  garden  belongs  to  the  nation,  and 
the  ignorant,  unlettered,  and  poor,  as  well  as  the  rich 
and  wise  and  studious,  enjoy  its  fragrant  flowers,  its 
graceful  trees  and  palms,  and  its  balsamic  herbs  and 
plants.  The  Christian  life  ought  to  be  like  that.  In 
going  about  our  daily  duties  we  ought  to  be  shedding 
forth  fragrance  unconsciously,  inspiring  others  with 
the  courage  with  which  we  carry  life's  burdens.  Our 
unconscious  influence  is  greater  than  our  conscious. 
A  sincere  Christian  does  much  good  that  he  never  in- 
tends. 

THE  HEAVENLY  ALCHEMIST. 

That  was  a  sweet  thought  of  Whittier  that  Christ 
would  yet  transform  the  dust  of  earth's  passion  and 
folly  into  the  gold  of  wisdom.  There  are  few  nobler 
lines  than  these : 

"  The  world  sits  at  the  feet  of  Christ, 
Unkoowing,  blind,  and  unconsoled  ; 
It  yet  shall  touch  His  garment's  fold 
And  feel  the  heavenly  Alchemist 
Transform  its  very  dust  to  gold.  " 

A  FORMAL  RELIGION. 

The  public  auction  of  schoolhouses  is  a  novelty  that 
is  to  be  witnessed  in  western  Kansas.  The  state 
officers  recently  decided  that  schoolhouses  in  depopu- 
lated districts  which  are  not  in  use  may  be  sold  to  the 


FORGETTING  ONE'S  NATIVE  TONGUE.        209 

highest  bidder.  Scattered  over  the  prairie  are  more 
than  one  hundred  of  these  buildings  that  have  not 
been  in  use  for  years,  the  abode  of  bats  and  owls. 
They  are  decaying  and  crumbling.  They  will  be 
sold  to  the  highest  bidder  to  be  used  for  cattle-sheds 
or  cut  up  into  kindling  wood.  In  many  cases  a  sin- 
gle family  runs  a  school  from  the  taxes  gathered  from 
non-resident  landowners.  Those  empty  schoolhouses 
remind  one  of  an  empty  Christian,  a  man  from  whom 
the  spiritual  life  has  gone  out,  leaving  only  the 
formal  framework  of  ceremony.  One  must  stick 
close  to  Christ  or  lose  the  joyous  life  of  the  Spirit. 

FORGETTING  ONE'S  NATIVE  TONGUE. 

An  English  naturalist  has  explored  an  island  in  the 
South  Pacific,  only  recently  discovered,  and  named 
Christmas  Island.  It  was  not  thought  to  be  inhab- 
ited by  man  or  beast.  The  naturalist  was,  however, 
astounded  to  run  across  a  huge  bamboo  house  in  the 
center  of  the  island,  with  evidences  of  cultivation  sur- 
rounding it.  As  he  appeared  in  the  open  glade,  an 
aged  white  man  left  a  stockade  close  to  the  house, 
and,  followed  by  his  native  wife  and  children,  with 
twenty  black  servants  bringing  up  the  rear,  came  to- 
ward him.  The  modern  Robinson  Crusoe  showed  by 
signs  that  he  had  forgotten  his  native  tongue,  and  by 
the  aid  of  his  dependents  drove  the  naturalist  from 
the  island.  The  white  man  gave  every  evidence  of 
having  relapsed  entirely  into  the  barbarism  of  the 
natives.  This  is  only  an  illustration  of  what  goes  on 
14 


210  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

spiritually  all  the  time.  Multitudes  of  people  who 
have  been  reared  in  Christian  homes,  who  have  been 
taught  to  sing  Christian  songs,  and  whose  lips  have 
been  familiar  with  the  language  of  heaven,  have  wan- 
dered so  far  away  into  sin  that  they  have  forgotten 
their  native  tongue  as  the  sons  of  God. 

RESCUED  FROM  SIN'S  BONDAGE. 

In  the  Children's  Home  in  Sioux  Falls,  S.  Dak., 
as  a  ward  of  the  Government  until  such  time  as  she 
shall  find  a  home  elsewhere,  is  a  beautiful  white  girl 
who  a  number  of  years  ago  was  stolen  away  by  the 
Sioux  Indians,  who  murdered  her  parents.  She  was 
only  four  years  of  age  when  she  was  captured,  and 
she  has  grown  up  to  womanhood  in  the  wigwams  of 
the  Indians.  When  she  was  rescued  she  was  on  the 
eve  of  being  forced  into  marriage  with  an  Indian. 
She  was  overjoyed  when  she  found  that  she  was  to  be 
taken  away  from  the  Indians,  and  is  now  very  happy 
in  her  school.  There  are  many  in  our  midst  who  were 
led  away  from  the  home  of  confidence  and  trust  in  the 
Heavenly  Father  when  they  were  little  children,  and 
who  have  become  wedded  to  their  sins,  which  hold 
them  in  cruel  captivity.  But  sin  has  no  right  to  them ; 
he  is  an  invader;  and  we  should  fly  to  their  rescue 
and  seek  to  make  them  understand  how  beautiful  are 
the  privileges  and  enjoyments  of  the  Christian  life. 
No  Indian  wigwam  was  ever  so  dirty  and  revolting  as 
the  sins  which  hold  immortal  souls  away  from  the 
liberty  of  the  children  of  God. 


BEWARE  OF  THE  POISONED  BITE.         211 

GETTING  AN  INJUNCTION  AGAINST  CHRIST. 

An  injunction  was  obtained  in  the  West  Virginia 
courts  forbidding  Rev.  "VV.  H.  Wiley,  a  pastor  near 
the  mines,  from  holding  religious  services  in  strikers' 
camps  on  Sundays  and  prayer-meetings  through  the 
week.  It  is  stated  that  this  man  had  never  done  any- 
thing to  inflame  hatred  among  the  coal-miners,  and 
had  never  failed  in  meetings  to  pray  for  the  operators 
and  owners  of  the  mines,  and  had  sought  to  bring  the 
power  of  God  to  bear  on  the  hearts  of  both  sides  of 
the  great  coal-mining  controversy.  The  judge  who 
granted  such  an  injunction  certainly  belongs  to  the 
class  designated  in  the  Bible  as  those  who  "  crucify 
the  Son  of  God  afresh." 

BEWARE  OF  THE  POISONED  BITE. 

A  railway  brakeman  was  discharged  from  a  hospital 
in  Sedalia,  Mo.,  after  four  months'  treatment  for  a 
tarantula  bite.  He  touched  a  tarantula,  and  was  bit- 
ten on  the  tip  of  the  middle  finger  of  the  right  hand. 
He  felt  a  sharp  pang  of  pain  at  the  time,  but  paid  lit- 
tle attention  to  it,  and  went  on  with  his  work.  The 
bitten  finger  began  to  slough  off.  The  hand  and  arm 
were  soon  swollen  to  three  times  their  natural  size. 
The  finger  was  amputated  again  and  again,  but  the 
wound  would  not  heal.  The  surgeons  were  compelled 
to  continue  to  follow  the  hand  back,  and  finally  made 
twenty-nine  amputations  in  all,  and  he  thought  him- 
self very  fortunate  to  save  his  life  with  the  loss  of  his 


212  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

arm.  The  poison  of  the  spider-bite  had  become  so 
thoroughly  infused  into  his  system  that  it  was  almost 
impossible  to  overcome  it,  and  his  final  recovery  was 
considered  almost  a  miracle.  All  about  us  are  men 
who  have  been  bitten  with  strong  drink,  who  have 
lost  property,  and  good  habits,  and  good  character, 
and  love  of  children  and  wife,  and  hope  of  heaven, 
and  their  system  has  been  so  thoroughly  poisoned 
that,  unless  saved  by  some  miraculous  cleansing 
through  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ,  they  must  be  lost 
forever. 

CHRISTIAN  BROTHERHOOD. 

As  a  Southern  Pacific  express  train  from  San  Fran- 
cisco drew  near  New  Orleans,  it  was  found  that  one 
of  the  passengers  in  a  Pullman  ear,  who  had  been  ill, 
was  dying.  As  the  train  came  into  the  station  the 
great  emergency  in  the  dying  man's  life  had  come, 
and  the  railroad  passenger  agent  ordered  that  the  car 
should  not  be  disturbed  until  death  had  passed.  A 
Christian  man  who  happened  to  be  in  the  car  said  it 
was  too  bad  to  see  the  man  die  without  a  word  of  prayer 
and  in  his  behalf.  He  knelt  at  the  head  of  the  berth, 
and  there  was  enacted  a  scene  not  often  witnessed  in 
a  railroad  car.  The  trainmen  felt  the  strange,  im- 
pressive moment,  and  as  though  by  instinct  they  all 
knelt  about  the  couch  which  bor  the  spirit  struggling 
between  life  and  death.  The  petition  for  the  dying 
man  was  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  touching 
ever  presented  for  any  soul.  The  spirit  of  the  sup- 
plication was  that,  although  this  man  was  unknown 


SACRIFICING  THE  SPIRITUAL.  213 

to  those  who  knelt  by  his  side,  yet  he  was  a 
brother,  and  bound  to  them  by  the  tie  of  brotherly 
love.  For  this  reason  all  men  are  interested  in  each 
other,  and  for  this  reason  a  last  and  parting  prayer 
was  offered  up  in  behalf  of  this  dying  brother.  As 
this  appeal  for  divine  mercy  drew  to  a  close,  all  of 
the  watchers  by  the  bedside  joined  in  repeating  the 
Lord's  Prayer,  even  to  the  porters.  Slowly  but  surely 
Christ  is  bringing  all  mankind  into  brotherhood. 


INDIVIDUALITY. 

Nobody  can  do  our  work.  Each  one  is  a  special 
study  of  God.  Alfred  J.  Hough,  of  "Vermont,  sings 
it  very  clearly  in  these  lines : 

"  Sing  the  song  God  bids  thee  ! 

The  heart  of  earth's  great  throng 
Needs  for  its  perfect  solace 
The  music  of  thy  song.  " 

SACRmONG  THE   SPIRITUAL  TO  THE  ANIMAL. 

A  Congressman  from  one  of  the  Western  States  re- 
ceived his  quota  of  bulbs  and  garden-seeds  from  the 
Department  of  Agriculture  and  forthwith  distributed 
them  among  his  constituents.  In  most  instances  they 
were  fully  appreciated,  as  scores  of  letters  attested. 
But  it  is  doubtful  if  a  more  appreciative  constituent 
has  been  recorded  since  the  distribution  of  seeds  was 
inaugurated  than  one  writer  whose  wife  had  been  sent 
some  of  the  lily  bulbs.     "  Many  thanks  for  the  vege- 


214  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

tables  so  kindly  sent, "  said  the  writer.  "  The  onions 
were  particularly  fine  and  greatly  enjoyed  with  our 
beefsteak."  That  is  very  laughable,  but  the  fact  it 
suggests  is  sad  enough.  How  many  people  there  are 
who  eat  up  the  lily-bulbs  that  might  blossom  into 
fragrance  in  their  lives,  and  who  sacrifice  every  beau- 
tiful promise  of  the  nobler  life  to  the  baser  appetites 
of  the  flesh! 

THE  GOOD  SHEPHERD. 

The  Shepherd  Christ  is  ever  seeking  after  the  lost, 
that  he  may  bring  them  back  from  dread  danger  to 
the  peace  and  quiet  of  the  fold.  James  Lane  Allen 
writes  a  very  tender  poem  illustrating  this  truth,  un- 
der the  title  of  "  The  Wanderer. "  Many  a  father  or 
mother  has  felt  like  singing  in  the  spirit  of  these 
verses : 

"My  lamb  is  missing  from  the  nightly  fold, 
And  bleak  the  wind  that  sweeps  the  darkening  wold. 
Where  wandereth  she,  so  late  and  ever  bold, 

With  foolish  feet? 
Hath  any  seen  a  lamb  that's  gone  astray. 
Caught  in  the  hidden  thorns  along  the  way, 
Or  slipped  adown  some  steep,  alack-a-day ! 

With  piteous  bleat? 

"  O  Thou  Good  Shepherd  !    Seek  her  in  the  path 
That  many  a  terror,  many  a  pitfall,  hath  ; 
On  her  bewildered  head  let  not  thy  wrath 

From  heaven  break ! 
To  the  calm  pastures  of  a  better  land, 
Where  all  the  flock  are  guided  by  thy  hand, 
And  follow  only  as  thou  dost  command, 

My  lost  lamb  take  !" 


BEWARE  OF  RECKLESSNESS.  216 

IMPORTANCE  OF  LITTLE  THINGS. 

The  power  of  a  little  thing,  if  only  it  be  pure  and 
sweet,  to  add  comfort  to  life  and  refresh  the  weary- 
heart,  is  very  beautifully  set  forth  in  a  little  poem  by 
Henry  Vandyke: 

"  Only  a  little  shriveled  seed — 
It  might  be  flower,  or  grass,  or  weed  ; 
Only  a  box  of  earth  on  the  edge 
Of  a  narrow,  dusty  window-ledge ; 
Only  a  few  scant  summer  showers  ; 
Only  a  few  clear  shining  hours. 
That  was  all.     Yet  God  could  make 
Out  of  these,  for  a  sick  child's  sake, 
A  blossom  wonder  as  fair  and  sweet 
As  ever  broke  at  an  angel's  feet.  ■, 

"Only  a  life  of  barren  pain. 
Wet  with  sorrowful  tears  for  rain  ; 
Warmed  sometimes  by  a  wandering  gleam 

'  Of  joy  that  seemed  but  a  happy  dream  ; 
A  life  as  common  and  brown  and  bare 
As  the  box  of  earth  in  the  window  there  ; 
Yet  it  bore  at  last  the  precious  bloom 
Of  a  perfect  soul  in  that  narrow  room — 
Pure  as  the  snowy  leaves  that  fold 
Over  the  flower's  heart  of  gold.  " 

BEWARE  OF  RECKLESSNESS. 

While  the  Hudson-river  train  was  speeding  along 
at  sixty  miles  an  hour  toward  New  York,  a  young 
woman,  being  thirsty,  went  to  the  end  of  the  car  to 
get  a  glass  of  water  from  the  water-cooler.  She  tried 
in  many  ways  to  open  the  faucet,  but  without  success. 
Then  she  looked  about  for  the  device  that  controlled 


216  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

it.  She  caught  sight  of  a  lever  just  above  her 
head,  the  one  that  works  the  emergency  air-brakes. 
A  look  of  triumph  came  into  her  eyes,  and  she  reached 
up  and  grasped  the  lever.  At  that  moment  a  rail- 
road man,  who  had  been  watching  her,  sprang  from 
his  seat  and  grasped  her  hand.  "  What  do  you  want 
to  do,"  he  cried,  "stop  the  train?"  She  looked  at 
him  with  a  shocked  expression.  "  I  want  a  drink  of 
water,"  she  said.  In  many  more  important  things 
reckless  hands  pvill  levers  that  turn  the  whole  current 
of  life  in  a  different  channel.     Beware  of  recklessness ! 


THE  CHRISTIAN  SOLDIER. 

Paul  may  have  been  a  little  man  in  body,  but  he 
had  a  great  heart.  He  had  the  courage  of  a  soldier. 
His  favorite  illustrations  are  of  athletes  and  soldiers. 
He  likes  to  compare  the  Christian  to  men  who  strip 
themselves  of  all  unnecessary  weight  and  run  the  race 
with  patience  and  win  the  prize.  How  it  stirs  one's 
blood  to  read  the  sixth  chapter  of  Ephesians  and  see 
the  fine  soldier  that  grows  before  our  eyes  as  we  read. 
Every  sentence  is  like  the  splendid  sweep  of  the  brush 
of  an  artist.  Our  hero,  the  Christian,  stands  out  with 
a  helmet  of  salvation  on  his  head,  a  shield  of  faith  on 
his  arm,  shoes  of  Gospel  peace  on  his  feet,  his  loins 
girt  about  with  truth,  a  breastplate  of  righteousness, 
the  sword  of  the  Spirit  in  his  hand.  Such  a  soldier 
does  not  enjoy  lying  about  the  fort  breathing  the  stuffy 
air  of  the  barracks ;  he  likes  the  open  air  of  the  bat- 
tle-field, where  courageous  deeds  are  to  be  done. 


HOME  ATMOSPHERE.  217 

THE  WAIL  OF  THE  HEART. 

A  man  died  in  Kansas  City  who  was  known  as  "  the 
man  with  the  musical  heart."  He  was  an  enigma  to 
the  doctors.  He  is  thought  to  have  been  the  only  man 
who  ever  had  "  a  musical  heart."  But  his  heart  sang 
only  when  he  drank  to  excess.  It  was  not  a  pleasing 
song.  The  doctors  stated  that  excessive  use  of  alco- 
holics had  contracted  one  of  the  valves  of  his  heart 
until,  with  every  influx  or  ejection  of  blood  therefrom, 
it  soimded  a  surging  song,  sometimes  almost  a  screech 
or  a  wail,  but  always  loud  and  strangely  human.  He 
kept  on  drinking,  and  it  sang  him  to  death.  This 
may  be  the  only  man  who  ever  had  this  physical  de- 
formity, but  it  is  far  too  common  a  thing  for  strong 
drink  to  raise  a  wail  from  a  broken  heart.  It  is  hard 
to  understand  how  any  Christian  can  listen  to  these 
moans  and  wails  that  come  from  breaking  heart-strings 
and  not  consecrate  himself  to  the  advancement  of  the 
temperance  reform. 

HOME  ATMOSPHERE. 

If  we  are  to  destroy  the  liquor  traffic,  the  home  life 
of  Christian  people  must  be  consecrated  to  the  tem- 
perance reform  so  completely  that  the  children  shall 
grow  up  with  reform  words  on  their  lips  and  reform 
ideas  in  their  heads.  I  know  of  one  home  where  I 
think  this  atmosphere  exists.  It  is  the  home  of  a 
Methodist  preacher,  where  there  are  several  little 
children;     and  one,  a  little  boy  not  quite  six,  had 


218  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

noticed  his  father  on  Sunday  morning  going  through 
the  ceremony  of  receiving  new  members.  He  had 
heard  the  father  say  on  such  occasions :  "  I  will  come 
into  the  altar  while  we  sing  the  last  hymn,  and  shall 
be  glad  to  receive  any  one  who  desires  to  unite  with 
us  either  by  letter  or  on  probation,"  The  boy  was 
much  interested  in  this  ceremony,  and  the  next  day 
in  the  nursery  gathered  the  other  three  kindergarteners 
around  him  and  held  service,  at  the  close  of  which  he 
gravely  remarked :  "  Now  I  will  come  into  the  altar 
and  shall  be  glad  to  receive  any  who  join  either  by 
letter  or  on  prohibition. " 

THE  TRAMP'S  SERMON. 

A  poor  old  waif,  ragged  and  unkempt,  stood  look- 
ing in  through  the  plate-glass  window  of  a  gilded 
saloon  in  New  Orleans.  Two  fashionable  young  men 
noticed  him,  and  one  said  to  the  other :  "  Say,  let's 
do  the  good  Samaritan,  and  set  Hobo  up  to  a  drink." 
The  other  hilariously  consented,  and  the  tramp 
slouched  into  the  saloon  at  their  heels.  As  he  poured 
the  liquor  into  the  glass  with  a  trembling  hand,  one 
of  the  young  men  said :  "  Make  us  a  speech !  "  The 
tramp  swallowed  down  the  liquor  with  a  fierce  thirst, 
then  straightened  himself  and  stood  before  them  with 
a  grace  and  dignity  that  all  his  rags  and  dirt  could 
not  obscure.  "  Gentlemen,"  he  said,  "  I  look  to-night 
at  you  and  at  myself,  and  it  seems  to  me  I  look  upon 
the  picture  of  my  lost  manhood.  This  bloated  face 
was  once  as  young  and  handsome  as  yours.     This 


THE  STORY  OF  A  BELL.  219 

shambling  figure  once  walked  as  proudly  as  yours,  a 
man  in  the  world  of  men.  I,  too,  once  had  a  home, 
and  friends,  and  position.  I  had  a  wife  as  beautiful 
as  an  artist's  dream,  and  I  dropped  the  priceless  pearl 
of  her  honor  and  respect  in  the  winecup.  I  had  chil- 
dren as  sweet  and  lovely  as  the  flowers  of  spring,  and 
I  saw  them  fade  and  die  under  the  blighting  curse  of 
a  drunken  father.  To-day  I  am  a  husband  without  a 
wife,  a  father  without  a  child,  a  tramp  with  no  home 
to  call  his  own,  a  man  in  whom  every  good  impulse  is 
dead — all,  all  swallowed  up  in  the  maelstrom  of  drink. " 
The  tramp  ceased  speaking.  The  glass  fell  from  his 
nerveless  fingers  and  shivered  into  a  thousand  frag- 
ments on  the  floor.  The  swinging  doors  pushed  open 
and  shut  again,  and  he  was  gone.  Let  the  young 
man  who  is  offered  a  glass  of  wine  remember  his  ser- 
mon. 

THE  STORY  OF  A  BELL. 

A  bell  with  a  fatal  history  hangs  loosely  on  its 
standards  on  the  hurricane-deck  of  the  wrecked  Cin- 
cinnati and  Louisville  Mail  Line  steamer  Telegraph. 
Dolefully  it  tolls  with  every  wind  that  sweeps  down 
from  the  Indiana  hills,  every  wave  that  rocks  the 
wreck  of  the  once  palatial  steamboat.  This  bell  has 
had  a  strange  history.  It  was  cast  in  1855  for  the 
most  famous  lower-river  steamer  of  that  day.  After 
a  few  years  the  steamer  was  wrecked,  and  only  the 
bell  was  saved  from  the  wreckage.  Four  ill-fated 
Ohio  or  Mississippi  river  passenger  boats  have  carried 
this  signal-bell,  and  one  after  another  they  have  met 


220  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

with  disaster.  There  are  many  people  over  whose 
past  years,  one  after  another,  the  bells  have  tolled 
in  defeat.  To  all  such  the  New  Year  offers  a  new 
chance — an  opportunity  to  turn  defeat  into  victory. 
Thank  God  for  the  mile-stone  that  offers  the  inspira- 
tion for  another  chance ! 

THE  FLIGHT  OF  TIME. 

In  the  South  Kensington  Museum  in  London  there 
is  probably  the  most  remarkable  collection  of  historic 
rings  in  the  world.  In  this  most  exquisite  and  per- 
fectly arranged  of  all  treasure-houses  the  troth  of 
kings  and  the  romance  and  tragedy  of  famous  lives 
give  a  keen  personal  interest  to  the  cases  filled  with 
gems  that  are  both  royal  in  themselves  and  have  been 
made  royal  by  the  touch  of  royalty.  One  ring,  of 
which  no  one  now  knows  where  it  came  from  or  to 
whom  it  belonged,  has  this  striking  inscription : 
"Never-to-be-forgotten  second  of  January,  1777." 
But  nobody  remembers,  and  for  these  many  years  it 
has  all  been  forgotten  as  far  as  this  world  is  con- 
cerned. And  so  each  day,  with  all  its  striking  and 
earnest  happenings,  will  pass  into  worldly  oblivion. 
The  only  treasures  that  endure  are  the  treasures  of 
the  soul.     Faith,  Hope,  Love — these  abide. 

VEINS  OF  "WEALTH. 

Probably  the  largest  nugget  of  silver  ever  mined 
was  a  piece  weighing  1,840  pounds,  which  was  taken 
from  the  Smuggler  mine  at  Aspen,  Col.,  in  1894.     It 


SEARCH  FOR  HIDDEN  TREASURE.         221 

was  such  pure  silver  that  it  was  impossible  to  assay  it 
in  the  ordinary  acceptation  of  the  word,  and  it  was 
put  directly  into  the  crucibles.  It  was  found  as  a 
core  in  some  very  rich  ore.  At  times  it  would  be  half 
an  inch  in  thickness,  and  then  widen  out  to  two  and 
one-half  feet.  It  was  a  little  purer  than  a  silver  dol- 
lar, and  almost  as  bright.  Christ  wants  every  one  of 
his  disciples  to  be  spiritual  miners.  There  are  rich 
veins  of  wealth  in  humble  homes  and  many  a  nugget 
of  priceless  value  hidden  under  the  earth  and  rock  of 
sin. 

SEARCH  FOR  HIDDEN  TREASURE. 

A  colored  man  was  hired  by  several  men  who 
claimed  to  be  on  a  scientific  expedition  to  the  coast 
of  Florida.  The  colored  man  was  a  shrewd  fellow, 
and  he  soon  became  convinced  that  his  employers  were 
after  something  besides  scientific  subjects.  He  fol- 
lowed them  one  night  and  saw  them  dig  up  an  iron- 
bound  box  from  under  a  big  pine-tree.  He  saw  it 
was  full  of  gold  pieces.  The  next  day  he  took  some 
of  the  coins  and  afterward  told  another  man  about 
it,  and  they  went  together  and  took  out  a  box  that 
contained  $31,000  in  doubloons,  some  of  the  pieces 
being  very  old.  The  story  soon  got  abroad,  and 
treasure-seekers  dug  up  the  sands  throughout  the 
whole  region,  seeking  for  more  gold.  If  all  the 
Christians  in  the  world  should  become  really  possessed 
of  the  treasure-seeking  spirit  so  that  they  felt  that  a 
precious  gem  or  a  rich  coin  was  covered  up  in  every 
human  soul,  the  world  would  be  soon  turned  to  Christ. 


222  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

It  is  not  enougli  that  we  are  a  part  of  the  church  that 
is  sending  out  its  missionaries  to  seek  after  the  hea- 
then, but  every  one  who  has  come  to  know  the  good 
news  of  salvation  must  be  a  treasure  seeker  for  this 
gold  that  never  shall  become  dimmed. 

EXPEDIENCY  VERSUS  PFONQPLE. 

One  of  the  finest  stories  which  the  occasion  of 
Queen  Victoria's  Jubilee  brought  to  the  surface  was 
the  one  which  tells  of  a  time  in  the  early  years  of  her 
reign,  when  one  of  her  ministers  urged  her  to  sign 
some  document  on  the  ground  of  expediency.  The 
young  Queen  looked  up  quietly,  and  said :  "  I  have 
been  taught  to  judge  between  what  is  right  and  wrong, 
but  '  expediency  '  is  a  word  I  wish  neither  to  hear  nor 
to  understand."  If  every  Christian  in  this  land 
would  take  that  position  in  citizenship,  and  stand  by 
it  for  five  years,  it  would  dry  up  the  liquor-saloons, 
and  banish  the  corruption  and  lawlessness  which  are 
the  curses  of  our  great  cities. 

"GOOD  LITTLE  WIFE." 

One  of  the  noblest  things  Queen  Victoria  has  done 
for  humanity,  in  her  long  reign  of  sixty  years,  is  the 
emphasis  she  has  put  on  a  pure  personal  and  domestic 
life.  Her  own  love-story  and  family  life  were  as 
gentle  and  gracious  and  tender  as  ever  blossomed  in  a 
cottage.  It  was  one  of  the  greatest  compliments 
Prince  Albert  could  have  paid  her  that  when  he  was 


TRUE  FRIENDSHIP  GIVES  THE  BEST.        223 

dying  he  looked  up  into  her  sympathetic  face  and 
said,  "Good  little  wife."  The  good  queen's  life 
ought  to  have  some  message  of  love  and  grace  to  every 
home  of  the  English-speaking  race.  Thinking  in 
this  vein  recalls  Eev.  W.  C.  Gannett's  "Dream  of 
Paradise, "  from  which  I  quote  the  first  three  verses : 

"I  dreamed  of  Paradise — and  still, 
Tho  sun  lay  soft  on  vale  and  hill. 
And  trees  were  green,  and  rivers  bright, 
The  one  dear  thing  that  made  delight. 
By  sun  or  stars  or  Eden  weather, 
Was  just  that  we  two  were  together. 

"I  dreamed  of  heaven— with  God  so  near 
The  angels  trod  the  shining  sphere, 
And  each  was  beautiful ;  the  days 
Were  choral  work,  were  choral  praise ; 
And  yet  in  heaven's  far-shining  weather 
The  best  was  still — we  were  together ! 

"  I  woke — and,  lo !  my  dream  was  true, 
That  happy  dream  of  me  and  you. 
For  Eden,  heaven,  no  need  to  roam — 
The  foretaste  of  it  all  is  home. 
Where  you  and  I  through  this  world's  weather 
Still  work  and  praise  and  thank  together.  " 

TRUE  FRIENDSHIP  GIVES  THE  BEST. 

Philip  gave  the  highest  evidence  of  the  genuineness 
of  his  friendship  when,  having  come  to  know  Christ, 
he  hurried  after  Kathanael,  and  brought  him  to  intro- 
duce him  to  Jesus.  A  true  friend  desires  to  share 
with  his  friend  the  very  best  things  that  come  to  him. 
Every  one  who  comes  to  know  Christ  sincerely  has 


224  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

this  desire  to  introduce  all  his  other  friends  to  him 
who  is  henceforth  to  sit  at  the  head  of  the  table  in 
the  heart's  communion.  That  is  a  species  of  mission- 
ary work  which  is  within  the  reach  of  the  ability  and 
opportunity  of  every  friend  of  Christ. 

FOREIGN  MISSIONARY  SUBSTITUTES. 

With  foreign  missions  it  is  often  as  it  was  in  the 
time  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  when  many  a  man 
who  was  not  fitted  to  go  as  a  soldier  had  means  to 
hire  a  substitute  to  go  in  hi«  place.  There  are  many 
business  men  in  our  churches  who  are  in  no  way  fit 
for  work  in  the  foreign  mission-field,  but  who  by  their 
business  opportunities  gather  large  sums  of  money  by 
which  they  may  easily  send  a  missionary  substitute 
to  heathen  lands  to  stand  there  in  their  place  and 
preach  the  Gospel  of  Christ.  Certainly  it  is  our  duty 
to  either  go  or  seud.  The  riches  of  the  Gospel  which 
have  so  transformed  our  lives  are  a  sacred  trusteeship, 
and  we  shall  not  be  held  guiltless  if  we  treat  this 
wealth  as  our  private  property  and  let  our  brothers 
perish  in  darkness. 

QUEEN  VICTORIA  AND  WOMEN  QTIZENS. 

Queen  Victoria  bears  remarkable  testimony  to  the 
wisdom  of  granting  women  the  full  rights  and  privi- 
leges of  citizenship.  When  it  is  said  that  women 
have  not  capacity  for  understanding  and  dealing  with 
great  problems  of  statesmanship,  all  the  reply  that  is 


SIGNALS.  225 

necessary  is  to  point  to  the  long  and  glorious  rule  of 
Victoria.  She  also  bears  testimony  to  the  fact  that  a 
woman  may  be  a  great  queen,  and  at  the  head  of  the 
most  powerful  governmental  institution  in  the  world, 
and  yet  be  a  good  wife  and  a  great  mother.  In  my 
judgment,  the  two  most  influential  women  in  Great 
Britain  during  the  present  generation  were  Queen  Vic- 
toria and  Catherine  Booth,  the  latter  known  as  the 
"Mother  of  the  Salvation  Army."  And  yet  these 
women  are  as  conspicuous  as  mothers  as  in  their  re- 
markably successful  public  life.  There  are  many 
problems  in  the  larger  housekeeping  of  our  towns  and 
cities,  as  well  as  in  the  state  and  nation,  that  need 
the  keen  supervision  of  a  housewife's  eye,  a  mother's 
brooding  care,  in  fact,  a  woman's  feminine  attitude 
and  presence.  God  hasten  the  day  when  our  American 
queens  shall  come  into  the  full  privilege  of  their  reign ! 

SIGNALS. 

The  fabulous  honor  of  being  the  first  inventor  ot 
the  art  of  signaling  is  bestowed  by  certain  classical 
writers  upon  the  ingenious  Palamedes.  This  hero 
may  have  introduced  improvements  in  detail,  but  it 
is  certain  that  long  before  the  time  of  the  Trojan  war 
the  Egyptians  and  Assyrians,  if  not  the  Chinese  and 
other  nations  of  remote  antiquity  of  whom  monu- 
mental records  alone  remain  to  us,  had  developed  reg- 
ular methods  of  signaling  by  fire,  smoke,  flags,  and 
other  devices.  The  Great  "Wall  built  by  the  Chinese 
ages  ago,  1,500  miles  long,  is  studded  with  towers. 
15 


226  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

Between  these  signals  were  interchanged  when  troops 
had  to  be  collected  to  resist  attack  at  any  point.  It 
is  now  thought  probable  that  the  huge  tower  of  Babel 
was  erected  for  signaling  purposes.  In  carrying  on 
the  war  against  sin  the  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ  often 
signal  each  other  intelligence  of  love  and  encourage- 
ment. The  various  Christian  denominations  are  but 
wings  of  one  great  army  of  the  Lord,  and  should  ever 
rejoice  to  signal  one  another  messages  of  good  cheer. 

THE  CHRISTIAN'S  CREDENTIALS. 

Everything  that  has  life  in  it  carries  its  credentials 
along  with  it.  A  ship's  flag  and  papers  are  its  cre- 
dentials. The  trees  put  out  their  credentials  in  the 
spring  days  in  the  shape  of  leaves  and  flowers.  The 
Christian  has  his  credentials  too.  The  fruits  of  the 
Spirit  are  to  hang  in  ripening  clusters  on  the  boughs 
of  conduct  and  conversation.  Paul,  in  his  letter  to 
the  Philippians,  expresses  the  deep  anxiety  of  his 
heart  that  his  children  in  the  Gospel  should  carry 
such  clear  credentials  in  their  lives  that  they  might 
be  "  sincere  and  without  offense  till  the  day  of  Christ; 
being  filled  with  the  fruits  of  righteousness,  which  are 
by  Jesus  Christ,  unto  the  glory  and  praise  of  God." 

CHRIST  OUR  CAPTAIN. 

At  the  time  of  the  explosion  of  the  Maine,  when 
Captain  Sigsbee  found  his  ship  burning,  and  the  flames 
encroaching  upon  the  great  magazine,  he  ordered  his 


GLADSTONE'S  COURAGE.  227 

officers  and  men  to  take  to  the  boats  over  the  stern. 
An  explosion  was  expected  every  second — an  explo- 
sion that  would  have  blown  to  atoms  every  man  on 
board.  Yet  Captain  Sigsbee  testifies  that  his  officers 
insisted  that  he  should  go  first,  and  wasted  precious 
seconds  at  risk  of  their  lives  in  that  insistence.  He 
refused  "of  course,"  he  says,  and  that  phrase,  "of 
course, "  is  eloquent  with  meaning.  It  is  "  of  course  " 
that  the  commander  is  the  last  to  leave  the  ship.  It 
is  "  of  course  "  that  he  values  his  life  immeasurably 
less  than  he  values  his  obligation  of  duty,  whatever  it 
may  be.  And  it  is  equally  a  matter  "  of  course  "  that 
all  those  valiant  fellows  under  him  were  equally 
ready  to  sacrifice  themselves,  not  only  to  duty,  but  to 
a  chivalric  courtesy.  That  is  the  stuff  of  which 
heroes  are  made.  Christ,  our  Captain,  perfected  him- 
self through  suffering.  He  became  poor  that  he  might 
sympathize  with  poverty ;  he  bore  the  cross  that  he 
might  win  for  us  the  crown.  He  is  the  head  of  the 
church,  and  will  never  desert  it  or  a  single  one  of  its 
members.  We  certainly  ought  to  have  as  much  chiv- 
alric devotion  to  Christ  as  the  officers  and  sailors  of 
the  Maine  had  toward  their  captain. 

GLADSTONE'S  COURAGE. 

There  has  been  no  more  splendid  illustration  of 
sublime  moral  courage  in  our  time  than  in  the  case  of 
Mr.  Gladstone.  He  had  the  courage  not  only  to 
change  his  opinions,  but  when  he  had  changed  them 
to  put  his  new  light  and  knowledge  at  once  into  prac- 


228  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

tice,  even  tho  he  broke  with  political  associations 
in  order  to  do  so.  He  was  often  called  inconsistent 
for  this.  He  himself  said  that  the  secret  of  his  whole 
career  was  in  the  fact  that  he  was  educated  to  believe 
that  liberty  was  something  to  be  afraid  of;  and  as  he 
had  grown  in  life  he  had  come  to  have  a  wider  and 
wider  belief  in  human  liberty.  There  are  very  many 
people  who  never  have  the  courage  to  throw  away  the 
old  errors  which  they  have  outgrown. 

THE  GREEN  SASH  OF  HELPFULNESS. 

In  time  of  war  surgeons  on  the  battle-field  wear 
green  sashes.  It  is  not  so  much  an  insignia  of  rank 
as  it  is  a  protection  to  the  wearer.  According  to  the 
code  of  civilized  warfare,  surgeons  are  never  shot  or 
taken  prisoners.  To  deliberately  shoot  a  surgeon 
while  he  is  wearing  his  sash  is  considered  a  violation 
of  the  code,  punishable  by  death.  Because  of  this 
provision  surgeons  of  one  army  never  refuse  to  look 
after  the  wounded  of  the  other  army  if  it  is  possible 
for  them  to  do  so.  During  the  Civil  War,  it  was 
often  the  case  after  a  battle  that  the  field  hospitals 
would  contain  almost  an  equal  number  of  men  dressed 
in  blue  and  gray.  As  the  green  sash  protects  the  sur- 
geon seeking  after  the  wounded  on  the  battle-field,  so 
the  safest  man  in  the  world  in  all  common  life  is  the 
one  who  in  self-forgetfulness  tries  to  comfort  his 
wounded  neighbor.  Job  had  had  trouble  and  trial  a 
long  time,  but  God  turned  the  captivity  of  Job  on  the 
day  when  he  forgot  his  own  troubles  and  prayed  for 


COOPERATION.  229 

his  friends.  God  sets  the  whole  universe  looking 
after  the  man  who  gives  himself  up  in  self-forgetful 
devotion  to  make  life  sweeter  for  the  poor  and  the 
he]  less. 

CCX)PERATlON. 

I  have  been  reading  an  interesting  thing  about 
door-handles.  It  seems  that  an  esthetic  person  who 
desires  a  unique  door-handle  for  his  favorite  room 
must  pay  well  for  the  privilege.  ?orty,  fifty,  even 
seventy-five  dollars  may  be  the  cost  of  the  first  door- 
handle made  after  a  new  pattern.  The  metal  is  worth 
perhaps  only  a  few  cents,  but  the  labor  comes  high. 
First  the  architect  draws  the  design,  and  submits  it 
to  the  manufacturer  who  is  to  finish  the  handle.  He 
turns  it  over  to  his  modeler,  who  makes  an  exact  pat- 
tern of  the  handle  and  lock  in  clay,  or  plaster.  Every 
line  that  is  fl^at  in  the  design  is  raised  in  this  pattern, 
and  the  more  elaborate  and  intricate  the  decoration  the 
more  difficult  his  work.  The  pattern  is  then  given  to 
the  man  who  makes  the  mold,  or  oftener  several  molds 
joined  together,  known  as  gates.  These  are  usually 
of  plaster,  and  the  molten  metal  is  poured  into  them 
without  in  any  way  affecting  their  substance.  When 
the  metal  is  cool  the  handle  is  taken  out,  a  thing  of 
beauty  and  expense — for  the  architect,  pattern-maker, 
mold-maker,  and  the  man  who  pours  in  the  metal 
must  all  be  paid  for  their  work.  The  first  door-han- 
dle only  is  thus  costly.  When  the  mold  is  once 
made,  the  price  of  a  door-handle  decreases  according 
to  the  number  made,  so  that  the  five  hundredth  door- 


230  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

handle  costs  scarcely  more  than  the  metal  put  into  it. 
Our  cooperation  in  the  church  is  like  that.  Only  now 
and  then  a  king  or  a  millionaire  could  afford  to  have 
his  own  chaplain  and  choir,  and  all  the  helpful  things 
that  cling  about  a  church,  but  all  working  together, 
rich  and  poor,  we  are  able  to  bring  the  heavenly  influ- 
ences of  church  life  within  the  reach  of  the  poorest. 
Christ's  law  of  life  is  the  law  of  cooperation. 

PEPPER  AND  PATIENCE. 

During  the  Middle  Ages  in  Europe  pepper  was  the 
most  esteemed  and  important  of  all  the  spices.  Gen- 
oa, Venice,  and  other  commercial  cities  of  Central 
Europe  were  indebted  to  their  traffic  in  pepper  for  a 
large  part  of  their  wealth.  The  price  of  pepper 
during  these  years  was  exorbitantly  high,  as  the 
rulers  of  Egypt  extorted  a  large  revenue  from  all  who 
were  engaged  in  the  spice  trade.  This  high  cost  of 
pepper  incited  the  Portuguese  to  seek  for  a  sea-pas- 
sage to  India.  Perhaps  this  was  in  Columbus's  mind 
to  some  extent  when  he  discovered  America.  At  any 
rate,  six  years  after  that  discovery,  when  a  sea-pas- 
sage was  discovered  to  India,  there  was  a  great  fall  in 
the  price  of  pepper.  Pepper,  to-day,  is  altogether  too 
cheap  in  some  circles.  Human  nature  without  any 
pepper  in  it  would  be  very  weak  and  tasteless,  but 
when  the  pepper  is  ia  the  ascendency  it  works  destruc- 
tion. The  patient  man  is  not  the  man  without  any 
spice  in  his  make-up,  but  the  man  who  masters  his 
own  nature  and  curbs  it  under  strong  self-discipline. 


THE  KINSHIP  OF  MAN.  231 

CHARACTER  DEVELOPED  BY  LITTLE  DEEDS. 

It  takes  a  great  quantity  of  fresh-cut  flowers  to  sup- 
ply a  great  city  like  London.  There  is  one  firm  in 
the  Covent  Garden  Market  which  sells  sometimes  as 
high  as  $150,000  worth  of  cut  flowers  a  week.  One 
of  the  interesting  features  of  the  supply  of  flowers  for 
this  great  human  center  is  that  they  come  largely 
from  abroad,  and  from  small  growers.  Baskets  of 
flowers  leave  the  south  of  France  in  the  evening,  and 
are  ready  for  all  the  early  morning  markets  of  Eng- 
land two  days  afterward.  These  flowers  are  grown 
largely  by  industrious  French  cottagers,  each  sending 
a  few  baskets  from  their  little  well-worked  garden 
plat.  Human  life  is  like  that  in  many  ways.  It  is 
the  little  things  that  make  up  the  beauty  and  fragrance 
of  a  character.  Christian  manhood  and  womanhood 
grow  by  little  restraints,  little  self-denials,  deeds- 
that  seem  insignificant,  taken  alone ;  but  the  aggrega- 
tion is  a  character  and  a  life  fragrant  with  the  whole 
variety  of  Christian  graces. 

THE  KINSHIP  OF  MAN. 

The  candidature  of  Prince  George  of  Greece  for  the 
governorship  of  Crete  called  attention  to  some  remark- 
able facts  concerning  the  personal  relationship  of  the 
reigning  houses  of  Europe.  The  young  prince  wrote 
a  letter  to  his  cousin,  the  Czar,  asking  him  to  support 
his  claims.  The  Emperor  at  once  adopted  him  as 
the  Russian  candidate.     Lord  Salisbury  seconded  it 


232  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

gladly,  especially  as  the  prmce  was  the  nephew  of  the 
Princess  of  Wales.  The  German  Emperor,  who  is  a 
third  party  to  be  specially  consulted,  is  the  grandson 
of  Queen  Victoria,  and  thus  the  three  greatest  powers 
in  Europe  are  bound  together  by  the  closest  ties  of 
kinship.  This  may  mean  a  great  deal  for  peace  in 
the  days  to  come.  Christianity,  the  more  it  takes  hold 
upon  the  hearts  of  men,  tends  to  arouse  a  keen  sense 
of  kinship  and  brotherhood.  We  can  not  love  God  as 
our  Father  without  a  kindly  feeling  toward  our  brothers 
and  sisters.  John  says  in  his  heart-searching  letters 
that  a  man  who  says  he  loves  God  while  at  the  same 
time  he  hates  his  brother  is  a  liar. 


BLOOD  ON  THE  BANK-NOTES. 

An  English  paper  relates  that  some^ears  ago  the 
cashier  of  a  Liverpool  merchant  received  a  small  Bank 
of  England  note,  which  he  held  up  to  the  light  to 
make  sure  that  it  was  genuine.  In  doing  so  he  noticed 
some  indistinct,  brownish  marks,  as  if  words  had  been 
traced  on  the  front  of  the  note  and  on  the  margin. 
Out  of  curiosity  he  tried  to  decipher  them.  At  last 
he  was  able  to  read  the  following  sentence :  "  If  this 
note  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  John  Dean,  of 
Longhillmar,  he  will  learn  thereby  that  his  brother  is 
languishing  a  prisoner  in  Algiers."  Mr.  Dean,  when 
the  note  was  shown  to  him,  lost  no  time  in  asking 
the  Government  for  assistance,  and  finally  secured  the 
freedom  of  his  brother  on  payment  of  a  ransom  to 
the  Dey.     The  unfortunate  man  had  been  a  prisoner 


COURAGE  OF  ONE'S  CONVICTIONS.        233 

for  eleven  years,  and  had  traced  with  a  piece  of  wood 
for  pen,  and  his  own  blood  for  ink,  the  message  on 
the  bank-note,  in  the  hope  of  its  being  seen  sooner  or 
later.  There  is  many  a  bank-note  taken  in  by  the 
liquor-seller,  or  by  the  man  who  rents  his  building  for 
such  a  purpose,  that,  if  held  up  to  the  light  of  God's 
truth,  would  reveal  lines  soaked  by  a  brother's  blood. 
Better  to  have  poverty,  a  thousand  times,  than  to 
have  a  treasure-vault  full  of  blood-stained  wealth. 


HAVING  THE  COURAGE  OF  ONE'S  CONVICTIONS. 

If  you  want  to  find  three  young  men  who  had  the 
courage  of  their  convictions,  you  should  get  acquainted 
with  Shadrach,  Meshach,  and  Abed-nego,  whose  mem- 
ory is  treasured  up  in  the  book  of  Daniel.  Those 
young  men  did  not  take  the  time  to  consider  what  was 
offered  them  when  they  refused  to  worship  the  golden 
image.  They  knew  they  would  not  change  their 
minds,  and  might  as  well  have  the  thing  over  one  time 
as  another.  It  looked  black  for  them  at  the  moment. 
After  they  had  made  their  defiant  answer,  Nebuchad- 
nezzar seemed  to  go  wild  with  fury.  His  face  was 
distorted  with  anger,  and  he  shouted  the  command 
that  they  should  heat  the  furnace  seven  times  hotter 
than  it  was  wont  to  be  heated.  The  soldiers  were 
called  and  commanded  to  bind  the  brave  young  men 
and  cast  them  into  the  burning  fiery  furnace.  And 
the  soldiers  gathered  them  up  in  their  garments  as 
they  were,  and  carried  them  along,  with  great  bold- 
ness, no  doubt,  and  show  of  strength  and  authority, 


234  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

and  cast  them  headlong  into  the  seething  hell  of  flame. 
But  the  the  furnace  was  so  hot  that  it  slew  the 
soldiers  that  cast  them  in,  the  three  young  heroes 
walked  unharmed  in  the  midst  of  the  fire.  Not  only 
were  they  unharmed,  but  a  fourth  figure,  one  of  such 
glorious  appearance  that  the  king  said  of  him  that  he 
was  "  like  a  son  of  the  gods, "  walked  with  them  in 
cheering  fellowship  through  all  their  fiery  trial.  God 
is  as  faithful  to  give  the  comfort  of  his  presence  to 
people  who  have  the  courage  of  their  convictions  to- 
day as  in  the  days  of  Daniel  and  his  friends. 

HOME  MISSIONARY  OPPORTUNITIES. 

There  are  some  missionary  duties  which  can  never 
be  transferred  to  any  one  else.  God  puts  us  in  little 
circles  so  that  each  of  us  touches  some  people  with 
more  power  than  any  one  else  in  the  world ;  to  them  we 
are  peculiarly  the  missionaries  of  Christ.  The  oppor- 
tunity to  do  them  good  is  as  close  to  us  as  our  breath- 
ing or  eating.  An  employer  or  teacher  or  parent  can 
never  thrust  aside  to  somebody  else  the  duty  of  illus- 
trating the  spirit  of  Christ  to  his  employees,  his 
pupils,  or  his  children.  It  is  not  a  case  where  he  can 
send  anybody  else;  he  must  himself  show  forth  the 
mind  that  is  in  Christ. 

HUNGRY  SOLDIERS. 

Hungry  and  thirsty  men  have  given  many  splendid 
examples  of  courage,  but  none  more  remarkable,  per- 
haps, than  in  that  retreat  of  the  English  from  Cabul, 


CHRIST  IN  NAZARETH.  235 

when,  exposed  for  six  days  and  five  nights  in  the 
snow,  without  cover  or  fire,  with  scarcely  any  food, 
compelled  by  thirst  to  eat  snow  which  only  aggravated 
their  tortures,  footsore  and  benumbed,  the  Forty- 
fourth  responded  gallantly  to  every  call  and  beat  back 
repeated  attacks  of  the  Afghans,  who  attempted  to 
overwhelm  them  as  they  passed  through  narrow  de- 
files or  halted  in  the  hope  of  getting  a  brief  rest. 
But  Christ  is  the  greatest  illustration  of  the  hero 
when  an  hungered.  Tho  he  had  fasted  for  forty 
days  and  forty  nights  in  the  wilderness  with  the  wild 
beasts,  yet  he  refused  the  devil's  temptation  to  satisfy 
his  hunger  at  the  price  of  his  fidelity  to  God.  The 
same  temptation  comes  to  every  one  uf  us  at  some 
time  in  our  lives,  and  to  some  of  us  many  times. 
Only  Christ's  trust  in  God  and  reliance  on  him  for 
strength  can  give  us  the  same  victory  which  he  won. 

CHRIST  IN  NAZARETH. 

That  is  a  very  pretty  touch  in  the  story  of  Jesus 
which  tells  that,  when  Joseph  and  Mary  went  away 
home,  having  lost  Jesus  in  Jerusalem  without  know- 
ing it,  and,  coming  back,  searched  three  days  for  him, 
and  finally  found  him  in  the  temple,  he  went  back 
with  them  to  Nazareth  and  was  subject  to  them  there 
as  before.  That  is,  he  was  a  good  boy,  and  obedient 
to  his  parents,  giving  them  reverence  and  love.  Even 
in  the  hour  of  his  great  agony  on  the  cross,  when  he 
was  suffering  under  the  burden  of  sin  for  the  whole 
world,  one  of  his  last  thoughts  was  concerning  his 


236  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

mother.  In  the  tenderest  possible  way  he  commended 
her  to  the  care  of  John,  his  dearest  friend.  We  should 
not  only  be  kind  to  our  parents  during  childhood,  but 
if  we  follow  the  example  of  Jesus  our  loving  plans  for 
them  will  follow  us  into  maturity,  and  to  the  end  of 
life. 

INSPIRING  OTHERS. 

We  help  to  mold  the  character  of  others  every  day 
either  by  discouraging  them  or  inspiring  them  by  the 
effect  produced  on  them  by  our  own  spiritual  atmos- 
phere. To  do  the  most  good  in  the  world,  we  need 
to  present  in  our  own  conversation  and  life  the  bright 
and  courageous  side  of  things.  Ella  Wheeler  Wilcox 
sets  it  forth  very  clearly  in  these  verses : 

"Talk  happiness.     The  world  is  sad  enough 
Without  your  woes.     No  path  is  wholly  rough  ; 
Look  for  the  places  that  are  smooth  and  clear, 
And  speak  of  those  to  rest  the  weary  ear 
Of  earth,  so  hurt  by  one  continuous  strain 
Of  human  discontent  and  grief  and  pain. 

"Talk  faith.     The  world  is  better  off  without 
Your  uttered  ignorance  and  morbid  doubt. 
If  you  have  faith  in  God,  or  man,  or  self, 
Say  so  ;  if  not,  push  back  upon  the  shelf 
Of  silence  all  your  thoughts  till  faith  shall  come  ; 
No  one  will  grieve  because  your  lips  are  dumb. 

"Talk  health.     The  dreary,  never-changing  tale 
Of  mortal  maladies  is  worn  and  stale. 
You  can  not  charm,  or  interest,  or  please, 
By  harping  on  that  minor  chord,  disease. 
Say  you  are  well,  or  all  is  well  with  you. 
And  God  shall  hear  your  words  and  make  them  true. " 


NAOMI'S  UNSELFISHNESS.  237 

THE  PATIENT  CHRIST. 

Perhaps  most  of  us  fail  more  frequently  in  the  mat- 
ter of  patience  than  in  any  other  department  of  Chris- 
tian life.  But  we  do  not  fail  for  lack  of  example  in 
him  who  is  at  once  our  Model  and  our  Savior.  Peter 
calls  attention  to  the  patience  of  Jesus  in  the  second 
chapter  of  his  first  Epistle.  He  says  there  that 
"  Christ  also  suffered  for  us,  leaving  us  an  example 
that  ye  should  follow  his  steps:  who  did  no  sin, 
neither  was  guile  found  in  his  mouth :  who,  when  he 
was  reviled,  reviled  not  again ;  when  he  suffered,  he 
threatened  not ;  but  committed  himself  to  him  that 
judgeth  righteously;  who  his  own  self  bare  our  sins 
in  his  own  body  on  the  tree,  that  we,  being  dead  to 
sins,  should  live  unto  righteousness :  by  whose  stripes 
we  were  healed. "  Christ  was  able  to  keep  his  patience 
through  all  because  his  faith  in  God  was  unwavering 
and  he  saw  ahead  the  victory  which  was  sure  to  come. 
We,  too,  should  trust  God,  and  have  our  eye  on  the 
prize  which  is  at  the  end  of  the  race.  It  is  only  the 
man  who  is  sure  he  is  going  to  win  who  can  remain 
patient  under  every  trial. 

NAOMI'S  UNSELFISHNESS. 

In  studying  the  beautiful  friendship  between  Ruth 
and  Naomi,  which  is  told  with  such  graphic  force  in 
the  Book  of  Ruth,  the  emphasis  is  nearly  always 
placed  on  the  fidelity  of  Ruth.  Of  course  that  is 
perfect,  and  nothing  could  detract  from  it ;  but  to  my 


238  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

mind  the  unselfishness  of  Naomi  when  with  breaking 
heart  she  urges  Ruth  to  go  away  to  her  own  people, 
and  leave  her  to  go  on  alone,  is  as  beautiful  as  is 
Ruth's  fidelity.  Ruth  was  a  young  woman  yet,  and 
might  have  a  reasonable  hope  of  some  friendships 
coming  to  her  wherever  her  lot  should  be  cast ;  but 
Naomi  had  lived  most  of  her  life,  and  if  she  lost  Ruth 
she  lost  the  last  sweet  tie  of  human  fellowship ;  and 
yet  she  was  willing  to  do  it  on  Ruth's  account.  I 
think  her  unselfishness  proved  her  to  be  worthy  of 
Ruth's  undying  fidelity. 

REACHING   THE    SUMMIT    BY  WAY  OF    THE 
VALLEY. 

The  Christian  is  to  find  exaltation  by  humility. 
Christ  advised  his  hearers,  when  they  went  to  a  great 
dinner,  not  to  go  early  and  get  into  the  best  places, 
but  to  go  in  modestly  and  take  a  humble  seat ;  and 
then  if  it  was  proper  for  them  to  have  the  higher 
place,  the  host  would  honor  them  by  public  invitation 
to  the  better  seat.  It  is  by  being,  and  not  by  seem- 
ing to  be,  that  one  really  comes  to  be  exalted.  Christ 
emptied  himself  of  all  reputation,  laid  aside  his  glory 
and  his  riches,  and  came  to  the  earth  to  be  born 
among  the  lowly  in  the  manger  of  an  inn  stable ;  but 
it  was  the  way  toward  exaltation,  for  Paul  says : 
"  God  also  hath  highly  exalted  him,  and  given  him  a 
name  which  is  above  every  name :  that  at  the  name 
of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow,  of  things  in  heaven, 
and  things  in  earth,  and  things  under  the  earth  j  and 


A  LIFE  MARRED  BY  EVIL  TEMPER.        239 

that  every  tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father."  We,  too, 
shall  come  to  our  highest  through  sacrificing  ourselves 
in  humility  for  the  blessing  of  others. 

THE  NOBILITY  OF  SERVlCE. 

No  story  about  Christ  is  more  suggestive  or  more 
far-reaching  in  its  lessons  than  the  account  of  the 
time  when  he  came  upon  his  disciples  and  found  them 
quarreling  about  who  was  to  be  the  greatest  when  his 
kingdom  came  into  power.  How  shamed  they  must 
have  been  when  Jesus,  instead  of  rebuking  them  with 
words,  took  a  basin  of  water  and  a  towel  and  went 
around  to  each  dusty  traveler  and,  kneeling  before 
each  one,  washed  his  feet  and  wiped  them.  When 
he  came  to  Simon  Peter,  that  bluff  old  fisherman 
wasn't  going  to  allow  the  Lord  so  to  demean  himself, 
but  Christ  had  his  way,  gently  and  firmly,  and  then 
said  to  them.  You  must  follow  my  example  toward 
each  other.  If  any  of  you  want  to  be  great,  then 
prove  yourself  great  by  being  a  great  servant,  for 
"  even  the  Son  of  man  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto, 
but  to  minister." 

A  LIFE  MARRED  BY  EVIL  TEMPER. 

Dr.  Stradling  throws  some  interesting  light  on  the 
hooded  snake.  He  says  that  the  hoods  of  snakes  were 
unquestionably  intended  by  nature  to  act  as  weapons 
of  intimidation,  for  when  suddenly  opened,  as  they 


240  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

are  during  the  excitement  of  a  contest,  they  give  their 
owners  an  apparent  and  formidable  enlargement. 
But  the  hoods  which  have  been  so  useful  at  some 
period  in  snake  history  have  now  become  so  enlarged 
as  to  tend  toward  the  extinction  of  their  owners. 
During  a  fight  the  hooded  snake  in  the  act  of  striking 
his  foe  suffers  from  the  outstretched  and  weighty  hood 
— he  overbalances  himself  and  topples  forward.  His 
assailants — the  mongoose,  and  some  birds  especially — 
seize  him  when  prostrate,  and,  ripping  up  the  back  of 
the  neck,  speedily  despatch  him.  Dr.  Stradling  tells 
an  amusing  story  of  a  cobra  putting  his  head  into  a 
biscuit-tin  in  search  of  a  mouse,  which  was  regaling 
itself  on  macaroons.  The  rough  sides  of  the  tin  irri- 
tated the  cobra  so  that  he  involuntarily  dilated  his 
hood,  and  was  consequently  unable  to  remove  his  head 
from  his  tin  prison.  Found  next  morning  in  this 
awkward  predicament,  he  was  safely  and  quickly 
killed.  Many  men  and  women  suffer  the  same  way. 
A  man  without  the  power  to  be  angry  or  indignant 
would  not  be  complete ;  but  anger,  many  times,  proves 
the  overthrow  of  a  man,  as  it  did  of  this  cobra,  by 
robbing  him  of  his  ordinary  sense  and  capabilities  for 
self -protection. 

JONATHAN  THE  PRINCE  OF  FRIENDS 

Jonathan  deserves  to  be  called  the  Prince  of  Friends. 
He  was  the  son  of  the  king  and  the  heir-apparent  to 
the  throne.  Suddenly  David  looms  upon  the  horizon 
with  his  beauty,  his  courage,  and  that  nameless  mag- 


ELISHA'S  HUMILITY  AND  AMBITION.       241 

netism  and  heroism  that  surrounded  him  and  marked 
him  as  the  coming  leader  of  the  people.  A  small  man 
would  have  been  insanely  jealous.  An  ordinarily  wise 
and  good  man  might  have  been  expected  to  have 
nothing  to  do  with  David,  tho  he  yielded  to  him  the 
crown.  But  Jonathan  was  a  rare  soul.  He  cast  all 
ambition  out  of  his  heart,  and  his  soul  was  linked 
to  David's.  Their  friendship  lights  up  the  pages  of 
a  warlike  and  corrupt  time.  It  was  a  golden  thread 
that  runs  through  all  the  later  years  of  the  story  of 
Saul's  reign.  David  was  worthy  of  the  friendship, 
and  cared  for  Jonathan's  crippled  son  with  the  ten- 
derness of  a  father.  Great  friendships  can  grow  up 
only  between  large  and  generous  natures. 

ELISHA'S  HUMILITY  AND  AMBITION. 

The  frieadship  between  Elijah  and  Elisha  is  a  beau- 
tiful story  of  a  strong  love  growing  up  between  an  old 
man  and  a  young  one.  Elijah  was  no  doubt  often  the 
guest  in  the  home  of  Elisha' s  father,  who  was  a  rich 
farmer.  One  day  Elijah  came  through  the  field,  past 
where  Elisha  was  plowing,  and,  throwing  his  mantle 
over  the  boy's  shoulders,  walked  away  as  fast  as  he 
could.  Elisha  knew  very  well  what  that  meant.  It 
was  the  call  of  God  to  be  a  prophet.  He  settled  up 
his  affairs  at  once  and  went  forth  with  Elijah.  As 
Elijah's  translation  drew  near,  Elisha  begged  that  the 
mantle  of  the  man  of  God  might  fall  upon  him.  He 
had  such  reverence  and  love  for  Elijah  that  he  longed 
to  be  like  him,  and  to  be  able  to  go  on  doing  his  work 
16 


242  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

when  he  should  lay  it  down.  The  humility  as  well 
as  the  elevation  of  a  noble  soul  is  revealed  in  this 
longing  to  carry  on  the  work  of  the  Lord  in  the  spirit 
of  his  friend. 


SELF-COMPOSURE  IN  PRAYER. 

Two  things  are  said  to  be  unknown  to  Thomas  A. 
Edison,  the  great  inventor — discouragement  and 
worry.  His  associates  claim  that  his  freedom  from 
these  afflictions  comes  from  the  fact  that  he  possesses 
absolutely  no  nerves.  Recently  one  of  his  associates 
had  to  report  to  him  the  failure,  in  immediate  succes- 
sion, of  three  experiments  involving  enormous  expen- 
diture of  money  and  labor.  But  the  inventor  simply 
smiled  at  the  recital.  The  associate,  worn  out  with 
the  nervous  strain  of  his  long  watch,  and  disheartened 
by  his  disappointment,  said  impatiently :  "  Why  don't 
you  worry  a  little  about  it,  Mr.  Edison?"  ''Why 
should  I?"  was  the  inventor's  reply.  "You're  wor- 
rying enough  for  two."  The  victory  which  overcom- 
eth  the  world  is  our  faith ;  if  we  rely  upon  God  and 
trust  him  unwaveringly,  it  will  give  us  a  self -com- 
posure and  a  peace  that  shall  be  free  from  worry. 

DANGEROUS  SINK-HOLES. 

The  sinks  of  Florida  are  numerous,  and  of  great 
interest  to  travelers.  Around  Alachua  Lake,  three 
miles  south  of  Gainesville,  there  are  hundreds  of  sink- 
holes of  various  sizes  and  depths.     It  is  apparent  from 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  SINGLE  SINS.  243 

the  existence  of  so  many  sinks  that  the  whole  country- 
is  honeycombed  with  subterranean  passages.  Por- 
tions of  the  land  in  that  region  have  been  sinking  for 
ages.  Many  of  the  sinks  have  growing  in  them  trees 
whose  dimensions  indicate  that  they  must  be  centuries 
old.  There  is  no  telling  at  what  moment  the  earth 
may  give  way  and  a  new  sink  be  formed.  Only  a  few 
years  ago  the  ground  under  the  tracks  of  the  Florida 
Southern  Railroad,  near  Alachua  Lake,  gave  way, 
and  in  the  darkness  of  night  a  train  ran  into  a  hole 
seventy  or  eighty  feet  deep  and  was  completely 
wrecked.  Christ  came  to  save  us  from  the  sink-holes 
of  sin,  to  take  our  feet  out  of  the  mire  and  the  clay, 
and  to  set  us  upon  the  solid  rock.  The  cry  of  the 
sinking  one  never  comes  in  vain  to  his  ear.  As  he 
stretched  out  his  hand  to  Peter  when  he  was  sinking 
in  the  sea,  so  he  will  not  let  our  prayer  go  unheeded. 

THE  TRAGEDY  OF  SINGLE  SESfS. 

A  terrible  record  of  death  and  disaster  was  made  in 
Cleveland  resulting  from  an  explosion  which  occurred 
in  the  waterworks  tunnel.  A  mule-boy  was  instructed 
to  repair  at  noon  an  incandescent  lamp  which  had  be- 
come burned  out  during  the  morning.  He  obtained  a 
new  globe  and  fuse,  and  while  the  men  were  eating 
dinner  attempted  to  adjust  the  globe  and  fuse  to  the 
wire.  A  grain  of  sand  had  fallen  into  the  fuse  re- 
ceptacle, and  when  the  connections  were  made  this 
tiny  sand-grain  caused  a  spark.  The  gas  in  the  tun- 
nel, a  quantity  of  which  is  always  present,  immedi- 


244  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

ately  exploded.  Seven  men  were  killed  at  once,  oth- 
ers injured,  and  enormous  loss  of  property  entailed, 
and  yet  only  a  single  grain  of  sand  caused  it.  Beware 
of  single  sins  and  little  sins!  One  fatal  sand-grain  of 
evil  may  cause  the  spark  which  explodes  and  desolates 
the  whole  life. 


FLOWERS  BEAUTIFUL  BUT  DEADLY. 

A  naturalist  making  explorations  in  Brazil  came 
upon  a  forest  of  flowers  which  at  once  attracted  him, 
and  yet  prevented  him  from  approaching  them.  He 
noticed  in  the  forest  an  odor  vague  and  sweet  at  first, 
but  which  increased  as  he  advanced.  Ultimately  he 
reached  a  clearing,  and  there,  straight  ahead,  was  a 
wilderness  of  orchids.  Trees  were  loaded  with  them, 
underbrush  was  covered  with  them,  they  trailed  on 
the  ground,  mounted  in  beckoning  contortions,  dangled 
from  branches,  fell  in  sheets,  and  elongated  and  ex- 
panded as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach.  A  breeze  passed 
and  they  swayed  with  it,  moving  with  a  life  of  their 
own,  dancing  in  the  glare  of  tife  equatorial  sun,  and 
exhaling  an  odor  protecting  them  more  perfectly  than 
a  wall.  In  vain  did  the  naturalist  endeavor  to  ap- 
proach. There  was  a  veil  of  perfumed  chloroform 
through  which  he  could  see,  but  through  which  he 
dare  not  attempt  to  pass.  It  held  him  back  more 
effectually  than  bayonets,  and  it  was  torture  to  him 
to  see  those  flowers  and  to  feel  that  before  he  could 
reach  them  he  must  die,  suffocated  by  the  very  splen- 
dors of  which  he  was  in  search,  poisoned  by  floral 


BUTTERFLY  CHRISTIANS.  245 

jewels  such  as  no  one,  perhaps,  had  ever  seen  before. 
He  named  the  place  the  village  of  Demon-flowers. 
The  world  has  many  a  village  of  demon-flowers  which 
lure  only  to  destroy.  Christ  came  to  show  us  some- 
thing more  beautiful  and  yet  with  a  perfume  which, 
instead  of  destroying,  causes  the  one  who  breathes  it 
to  live  forever. 

CHRIST'S  FISHERMAN. 

Florence  L.  Snow  sings  of  how  she  waited  on  the 
shore  for  her  ship  to  come  in.  But  tho  she  waited 
long  and  was  ofttimes  filled  with  hope  at  the  sight  of 
a  sail,  yet  none  proved  to  be  for  her.  But  finally  her 
heart  turned  in  longing  for  an  opportunity  to  be  of 
service  and  help,  and  she  sings  of  how  it  came  to  her, 
in  helpful  lines : 

"  But  in  the  strength  of  a  new  day 
I  found  new  craft  upon  the  bay. 

And  with  a  humble  heart, 
I  knew  a  tiny  boat  for  mine, 
And  in  a  blessedness  divine 
I  learned  the  fisher's  art.  " 

BUTTERFLY  CHRISTIANS. 

Rarely  do  fish  from  the  tropics  stray  into  the  north- 
ern waters,  but  off  the  Massachusetts  coast  the  work- 
men of  the  United  States  Pish  Commission  once  cap- 
tured three  fish  which  undoubtedly  had  come  all  the 
way  from  the  West  Indies.  They  were  pretty  little 
things,    known  as  the  butterfly-fish.     It  is  thought 


246  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

that  they  straggled  away  from  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  the  West  Indies,  were  caught  in  some  northward 
current  which  was  too  strong  for  them  to  stem,  and 
were  thus  forced  away  beyond  all  possibility  of  return 
to  their  native  waters.  If  they  had  not  been  caught 
by  the  Fish  Commission,  their  lives  would  have  soon 
paid  the  forfeit  in  the  colder  water  of  the  North. 
There  are  many  butterfly  Christians  who  straggle  away 
from  the  safety  of  the  Sunday-school  class,  the  prayer- 
meeting,  and  the  opportunities  for  Christian  service, 
until  they  are  caught  in  the  swirl  of  a  worldly  current 
too  strong  for  them  to  stem.  The  atmosphere  of  lov- 
ing obedience  to  Christ,  ministering  with  him  in  help- 
ful service,  is  the  only  safe  air  for  the  young  Christian 
to  breathe. 

MOLDING  MARBLE  BLOCKS. 

Experiments  by  Mr.  John  Nicholson,  professor  of 
mechanical  engineering  at  McGill  University,  Mont- 
real, have  demonstrated  that  under  certain  conditions 
marble  may  be  molded  like  clay,  and  at  the  same  time 
retain  its  entire  tensile  strength.  It  looks  as  tho 
this  might  be  of  vast  importance  in  the  future.  The 
human  will,  which  will  break  like  a  piece  of  marble 
if  taken  hold  of  by  ignorant  hands,  may,  under  proper 
conditions — the  softening  influences  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  the  loving  but  powerful  pressure  of  the 
hand  of  Jesus — be  molded  into  obedient  and  loving 
sonship  to  God.  Some  people  imagine  that  to  sur- 
render one's  entire  will  and  life  to  Christ  is  in  some 
way  an  indication  of  lack  of  strength  and  manliness, 


SALVATION  BY  PERSONAL  CONTACT.      247 

but  it  is  not  so.  It  is  the  pure  white  Carrara  marble 
which  is  most  plastic  under  the  touch  of  this  new  in- 
vention, and  so  it  is  the  truest  and  noblest  manhood 
that  surrenders  itself  completely  to  Christ. 

ADRIFT. 

The  steamer  Buluwayo  once  came  across  a  sampan 
with  a  Chinaman  in  it  far  out  at  sea.  The  occupant 
of  the  little  boat  was  in  a  terrible  state  for  want  of 
water.  He  had  been  fishing  over-night  at  the  mouth 
of  a  Chinese  river,  and  had  fallen  asleep,  when  his 
boat  drifted  out  to  sea,  carrying  him  out  of  sight  of 
land  by  morning.  He  had  been  without  a  drop  of 
water  for  five  days,  and  when  rescued  was  almost 
exhausted.  Some  people  who  start  out  to  fish  for 
souls  get  into  the  same  state ;  they  fall  asleep,  and 
drift  out  to  sea.  There  is  plenty  of  the  Water  of 
Life  in  the  rivers  whore  our  duty  lies,  but  that  sea  of 
forgetfulness  to  which  men  drift  is  salt  with  death. 
The  Lord  needs  wide-awake  fishermen. 

SALVATION  BY  PERSONAL  CONTACT. 

The  steamer  Ganges,  bound  for  Colombo,  Ceylon, 
had  a  unique  experience  in  the  Eed  Sea.  The  captain 
observed  a  vessel  which  was  flying  signals  of  distress, 
when  about  two  hundred  and  thirty  miles  from  Perim, 
the  nearest  harbor.  The  skipper  of  the  Ganges  un- 
dertook the  task  of  towing  the  helpless  steamer  Fern- 
field  into  port.     Before  he  reached  port,  however,  the 


248  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

connecting  hawser  snapped.  Determined  to  get  her 
into  the  port  of  repair,  the  captain  ran  his  vessel 
alongside  of  the  Fernfield — a  most  difficult  operation 
on  the  high  sea — and  lashed  her  to  his  steamer  and  so 
escorted  her  into  Perim,  the  novel  sight  of  the  two 
vessels  coming  in  abreast  exciting  no  little  attention 
there.  The  salvage  was  very  great,  as  the  disabled 
vessel  had  a  rich  cargo  of  tea,  cocoa,  coconut-oil,  and 
cinnamon.  In  winning  souls  personal  contact  is  al- 
ways the  surest  method.  A  long-range  hawser  is 
always  likely  to  break.  If  we  lash  ourselves  with 
cords  of  friendship  and  sympathy  to  the  man  or 
woman  we  want  to  save,  we  can  always  bring  them 
into  port.  There  is  no  salvage  ever  awarded  in  the 
admiralty  courts  of  earth  equal  to  the  treasures  which 
God  grants  to  the  savior  of  an  immortal  soul. 

PUT  YOUR  TALENTS  OUT  TO  SERVICE. 

There  are  many  interesting  curiosities  connected 
with  the  Bank  of  England.  In  the  printing-room  a 
man  sits  at  a  little  table,  and  every  three  seconds  a 
machine  hands  him  complete  two  new  five-pound 
notes.  If  he  sits  there  six  hours,  he  receives  over 
£70,000,  and  in  three  hundred  days  what  would  be 
equal  to  $100,000,000  in  paper  money!  It  is  a 
strange  duty  for  a  man  to  perform — to  sit  at  a  table 
to  receive  from  a  machine  £20,000,000  a  year!  In 
one  of  the  vaults  every  note  which  is  returned  is  stored 
for  five  years,  and  here  is  kept  one,  for  £25,  which 
stayed  away  for  over  one  hundred  years.     It  has  been 


ONE  OF  DAVID'S  HABITS.  249 

calculated  that  during  that  period  the  loss  on  the  note 
in  interest  amounted  to  over  £G,000.  But  I  know 
some  people  who  have  their  talents  done  up  in  nap- 
kins and  laid  away  who  are  losing  more  than  that. 
They  are  losing  the  joy  of  serving  God,  the  develop- 
ment and  growth  of  the  divine  possibilities  that  are 
in  them,  and  the  hope  of  eternal  life.  We  should 
bring  out  all  our  talents  and  put  them  into  the  ex- 
change of  service  to  God  and  humanity. 

ONE  OF  DAVID'S  HABITS, 

David  had  a  habit  of  going  to  church.  Perhaps  he 
remembered  the  years  when  he  was  kept  away  from 
church  by  Saul's  soldiers.  There  was  a  long  time 
when  he  was  hunted  to  the  earth  like  a  wild  fox,  com- 
pelled to  hide,  son^etimes  for  a  week  at  a  time,  in 
some  cave  with  his  little  band  of  faithful  followers. 
On  such  Sabbaths  perhaps  David  would  improvise  a 
little  church  for  his  company,  and  if  he  sung  some  of 
his  own  Psalms  we  are  sure  they  had  good  music  any- 
how. No  doubt  a  great  many  of  these  Psalms  that 
we  have  were  first  repeated  by  the  young  warrior-poet 
to  that  brave  band  of  soldiers  that  followed  his  career 
in  times  of  darkness.  But  David  always  enjoyed  go- 
ing to  church,  and  it  was  his  regular  habit  when  he 
had  a  chance.  He  declares  that  never  a  hart  pursued 
by  the  dogs  panted  after  the  water-brooks  with  more 
intense  longing  than  his  soul  panted  for  the  worship 
in  the  temple  where  he  could  open  his  heart  to  God, 
and  pour  out  all  his  longings  and  his  hopes  and  fears 


250  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

at  the  mercy-seat.  In  one  of  his  Psalms  he  recalls 
his  happiness  when  some  friends  came  and  invited 
him  to  go  to  church.  In  speaking  about  it  he  says : 
"  I  was  glad  when  they  said  unto  me,  Let  us  go  into 
the  house  of  the  Lord. "  Church  attendance  is  largely 
a  matter  of  habit,  and  if  we  accustom  ourselves  to  it 
by  going  regularly  it  not  only  ceases  to  be  a  burden, 
but  becomes  a  great  joy  and  comfort. 

THE  POWER  OF  TESTIMONY. 

Christ's  promise  to  the  disciples  was  that  when  the 
Holy  Ghost  came  upon  them  they  should  receive  power 
which  should  fit  them  to  be  witnesses  of  him  unto  the 
ends  of  the  earth.  There  is  a  marvelous  power  in 
personal  testimony.  A  man  may  theorize  all  day,  and 
his  speculations  or  his  arguments  may  not  stir  you 
much ;  but  when  he  speaks  out  of  a  burning  heart  ex- 
periences that  have  come  to  him  personally,  and  says 
with  David :  "  He  brought  me  up  also  out  of  an  hor- 
rible pit,  out  of  the  miry  clay,  and  set  my  feet  upon 
a  rock,  and  established  my  goings.  And  he  hath  put 
a  new  song  in  my  mouth,  even  praise  unto  our  God" — 
when  a  man  talks  like  that,  out  of  an  earnest  heart, 
there  is  always  power  in  it  to  command  attention,  and 
in  our  time,  as  surely  as  in  David's,  "  Many  shall  see 
it,  and  fear,  and  shall  trust  in  the  Lord." 

ENOCH'S  HABIT. 

There  is  not  a  great  deal  in  the  Bible  about  Enoch, 
and  yet  a  good  deal  is  suggested  in  the  few  words  of 


THE  HALLOWING  OF  COMMON  DUTIES.     251 

biography  which  are  given.  We  know  that  he  was 
not  an  idle  man,  but  was  a  progressive,  earnest  soul, 
for  we  are  assured  that  he  walked  with  God,  and  he 
pleased  God.  A  man  who  keeps  pace  with  divine 
providence  and  so  adapts  himself  to  God's  steps  in 
human  life  that  he  pleases  him,  is  sure  to  be  an  ear- 
nest, wide-awake,  and  faithful  man.  Enoch  had  a 
regular  habit  of  walking  with  God.  There  is  nothing 
to  indicate  that  he  ever  sowed  any  wild  oats,  or  wan- 
dered away  walking  in  evil  paths.  He  no  doubt  be- 
gan to  walk  with  God  when  he  was  a  boy,  and  the 
habit,,  formed  then,  grew  on  him  naturally,  so  that 
when  he  came  to  be  a  man  the  ways  of  God  were 
pleasing  to  him,  and  there  was  no  thought  of  rebelling 
against  so  loving  and  wise  a  companion  and  leader. 

THE 'HALLOWING  OF  COMMON  DUTIES. 

An  interesting  ceremony  takes  place  every  year  at 
a  fishing  port  in  Brittany.  The  bishop  of  that  region 
comes  down  to  the  port  when  the  vessels  are  about  to 
sail  away  for  the  season's  fishing.  These  hardy  fish- 
ermen go  far  off  along  the  coast  of  Iceland.  On  such 
occasions  there  is  a  long  procession  through  the  q-uaint 
old  town  of  the  captains  and  the  owners  of  the  ves- 
sels. In  1897  the  fleet  consisted  of  forty  schooners 
and  seventeen  luggers.  The  bishop  formally  invokes 
the  divine  blessing  on  the  season's  work  of  the  fishing 
fleet.  Over  two  ttousand  sailors  and  their  families 
derive  their  means  of  subsistence  from  this  industry. 
We  ought  to  go  to  all  the  common  duties  of  life  with 


252  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

a  consecrated  spirit.  The  blacksmith-shop,  the  school- 
room; tiie  banker's  office,  the  kitchen,  and  the  ware- 
house ought  all  to  be  hallowed  places,  and  the  work 
by  which  we  gain  our  daily  bread  blest  by  prayer  and 
consecration. 

ONE  OF  DANIEL'S  HABITS. 

Daniel  had  a  habit  of  praying  to  God.  No  doubt 
his  pious  mother  taught  him  to  pray  when  he  was  a 
little  boy,  and  when  as  a  promising  young  prince  he 
was  carried  away  captive  to  Babylon  to  be  educated 
for  the  public  service  in  a  foreign  land,  Daniel  was  so 
in  the  habit  of  praying  that  he  continued  his  prayers 
as  faithfully  in  Babylon  as  he  had  at  home.  After  a 
while,  when  his  enemies  had  secured  the  king's  sig- 
nature making  it  a  capital  offense,  to  be  executed  by 
throwing  the  criminal  into  a  den  of  lions,  to  worship 
anybody  except  the  king  for  a  period  of  thirty  days, 
the  habit  of  praying  was  so  strong  on  Daniel  that  he 
could  not  put  it  off  thirty  days,  but  went  straight 
ahead  and  in  the  same  chamber  three  times  every  day 
he  kneeled  down  at  the  window  with  his  face  toward 
Jerusalem  and  prayed.  It  takes  more  than  a  den  of 
lions  to  keep  from  prayer  a  good  man  who  has  known 
the  joy  and  peace  of  communion  with  God  from  his 
childhood  on  to  old  age. 

THE  CHURCH  A  FORTRESS. 

The  recent  removal  of  thick  incrustations  of  dirt 
and  varnish  from  the  old  woodwork  above  the  outer 
central  doors  of  the  northern  porch  of  Westminster 


THE  KING  AND  THE  CHILDREN.  253 

Abbey  shows  that  the  wood  is  thickly  penetrated 
with  a  great  quantity  of  small  shot,  and  bears  many 
bullet-marks.  The  old  doors  beneath  were  removed 
several  years  ago  to  admit  of  a  freer  method  of  egress, 
and  they  were  riddled  in  a  similar  manner.  The  ab- 
bey workmen  engaged  in  cleaning  the  woodwork  say 
it  is  four  or  five  hundred  years  old.  It  is  very  thick 
oak  and  is  studded  with  large  iron  bolt-headed  nails, 
and  it  and  the  old  doors  have  filled  a  space  about  fif- 
teen feet  in  height  by  seven  feet  in  width.  These 
bullet-marks  come  from  a  long-past  date,  perhaps  sev- 
ral  hundred  years.  But  wicked  men  have  not  ceased 
to  shoot  at  God's  church.  Many  a  flying  bullet  is 
hurled  at  the  church  doors  in  our  own  time,  but  it  is 
a  safe  sanctuary  inside,  and  those  who  trust  God  and 
do  their  duty  will  find  that  there  is  protection  and 
peace  for  every  one  who  seeks  refuge  at  those  sacred 
altars. 

THE  KING  AND  THE  CHILDREN. 

The  King  of  Siam  has  a  passion  for  children.  It 
is  not  restricted  to  the  little  Siamese  tots,  but  is  uni- 
versal. During  his  extended  tour  in  1896  the  chil- 
dren of  the  various  nations  interested  him  as  much  as 
anything  he  saw.  The  hospitals  for  children  never 
escaped  his  attention,  and  in  these  places  of  suffering 
the  king  laid  aside  his  royal  dignity  and  showed  that 
one  touch  of  nature  makes  the  whole  world  kin. 
While  in  Edinburgh  he  visited  the  Royal  Hospital  for 
Children.  His  heart  was  touched  with  a  great  pity 
for  the  afflicted  little  ones,  and  recently  the  hospital 


254  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

authorities  received  a  gift  from  his  Majesty  in  the 
form  of  a  beautiful  dolls'  house.  It  was  made  at  a 
cost  of  $250,  and  is  probably  the  finest  dolls'  house  in 
existence.  It  will  doubtless  give  a  great  deal  of  joy 
to  many  an  unfortunate  little  invalid.  Christ  was 
the  first  great  King  who  made  much  of  little  children. 
He  made  a  little  child  the  standard  of  value  in  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  We  must  all  come  to  him  as 
seekers  for  his  divine  mercy  ''  as  a  little  child. " 

THE  ESSTINCT  OF  IMMORTALITY. 

The  young  salmon  which  is  born  in  the  mountain 
streams  in  the  Rocky  Mountains,  on  the  western  side 
of  that  Great  Divide,  is  soon  impelled  by  something 
in  its  nature  to  journey  downward  often  for  many 
hundred  miles  until  it  reaches  the  unknown  ocean. 
Its  instinct  teaches  it  that,  while  it  was  born  in  a  lit- 
tle brook,  it  was  made  for  life  in  the  great  ocean.  It 
has  brought  from  its  mountain  home  a  natural  apti- 
tude for  eluding  all  the  strange  enemies  and  for  avoid- 
ing all  the  novel  dangers  which  it  meets  in  this  new 
world,  and  it  leads  an  active,  predatory  life,  fiercely 
pursuing  its  natural  but  hitherto  unknown  prey.  It 
grows  rapidly,  quickly  acquiring  all  the  characteristics 
of  the  adult  salmon,  storing  up  the  intense  nervous 
energy  and  the  muscular  strength  which  will  be  needed 
for  forcing  its  way  up  the  rapids  in  the  moimtain  tor- 
rents, for  leaping  waterfalls,  and  fighting  for  its  pas- 
sage, where  it  long  ago  darted  down  with  the  current. 
So  we  have  in  our  hearts  the  instinct  of  immortality. 


THE  COMMON  PEOPLE.  255 

Tho  born  in  this  narrow  world  with  a  comparatively 
brief  limit  to  human  life,  we  have  the  assurance  in 
ourselves  that  we  were  made  for  the  great  ocean  of 
immortality.  Our  human  bodies  become  very  impor- 
tant as  the  temples  in  which  during  our  earthly  pil- 
grimage we  are  to  perform  all  the  deeds  of  an  immor- 
tal spirit  fitting  itself  for  its  eternal  career. 

UNUSED  WEALTH. 

After  many  weeks,  during  which  his  family,  aided 
by  the  police,  searched  for  him,  a  wealthy  man  of 
Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  was  located  at  an  almshouse  in  New 
London,  Conn.  He  had  wandered  away  from  home 
suffering  from  mental  trouble,  and,  in  spite  of  the 
efforts  that  were  made,  had  entirely  eluded  his  friends. 
While  they  were  searching  for  him,  desiring  to  bring 
him  back  again  to  his  home  of  comfort  and  luxury,  he 
was  living  in  a  poorhoase.  How  many  people  there 
are  like  that.  Christ  has  purchased  for  them  an  in- 
heritance of  untold  wealth.  But  while  the  Savior  is 
seeking  after  them  to  bring  them  into  the  rich  enjoy- 
ment of  this  peace  and  comfort,  they  are  living  in  the 
almshouse  of  worldliness.  It  is  necessary  to  get  such 
people  to  "  look  up  "  and  behold  the  spiritual  treasures 
before  it  is  possible  to  lift  them  up  out  of  their  self- 
imposed  poverty. 

THE   COMMON   PEOPLE. 

The  first  disciples  of  Jesus  were  just  ordinary  peo- 
ple.    They  were  not  very  rich  or  influential,  and  did 


256  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

not  stand  very  high  in  the  social  circles  of  their  time  j 
but  they  were  a  good  kind  of  folk  to  use  for  good  hon- 
est hard  work  in  building  up  the  kingdom.  Most  of 
the  people  about  us  are  of  that  sort.  The  society 
aristocracy  of  a  great  city  can  be  numbered  inside 
"  400  " ;  the  millionaires  can  be  put  in  a  column  of  the 
morning  paper ;  but  the  great  multitude  of  fishermen 
and  carpenters,  the  kind  of  folk  out  of  which  Christ 
built  his  church,  are  the  bone  and  sinew  of  human 
life.  The  church,  young  and  old,  needs  a  new  con- 
secration of  zeal  in  preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  aver- 
age folk. 

RESPONSIBILITY  FOR  THE  EASTER  HOPE. 

Paul  said  that  he  was  in  debt  both  to  the  Greek  and 
to  the  barbarian  on  account  of  the  added  light  which 
he  had  received.  The  man  who  has  eyes  is  under  ob- 
ligation to  help  the  blind.  The  way  men  rise  up  to 
this  in  times  of  emergency  is  very  encouraging. 
When  the  Bowery  Mission  lodging-house  was  burn- 
ing, William  Fitzpatrick  and  Martin  Stevenson  occu- 
pied the  same  room,  and  were  awakened  at  the  same 
time  by  the  cries  of  fire.  Fitzpatrick  is  blind.  As 
soon  as  Stevenson  realized  the  danger,  he  took  his 
blind  roommate  by  the  arm  and  led  him  toward  the 
fire-escape.  The  crowd  rushing  past  separated  the 
pair.  Fitzpatrick  was  swept  to  one  of  the  windows. 
John  Gordon,  another  lodger,  seeing  the  blind  man's 
helpless  condition,  gathered  him  up  across  his  shoul- 
der, and,  elbowing  his  way  through  the  crowd,  car- 


DEATH  TO  THE  CHRISTIAN.  257 

ried  his  burden  to  the  ground.  Those  of  us  who  have 
come  to  rejoice  in  the  gladness  of  our  Easter  faith  are 
in  debt  to  every  man  and  woman  who  are  in  fear  of 
death  and  see  no  light  beyond.  We  should  seek  to 
lead  them  to  the  light  which  has  become  so  precious 
to  us. 

THE  INSPIRATION  OF  EASTER-TIME. 

Great  days,  like  Christmas  and  New  Year's  and 
Easter,  are  mounts  of  vision.  It  is  well  to  make  much 
of  them  that  we  may  gather  their  full  inspiration  as  a 
reserve  force  to  carry  us  through  common,  prosaic 
days  when  we  shall  need  their  help.  Easter-time  is 
peculiarly  a  day  of  spiritual  insight.  All  things  that 
are  good  enough  to  be,  seem  possible  on  Easter  Sun- 
day. We  should  form  some  new  purpose,  rouse  our- 
selves to  some  new  devotion  inspired  by  the  Easter 
atmosphere:  Edwin  Arnold  sets  forth  this  thought 
very  beautifully  in  one  of  his  poems,  the  opening 
verse  of  which  is : 

"  We  can  not  kindle  when  we  will 
The  fire  which  in  the  heart  resides  ; 
The  spirit  bloweth  and  is  still, 
In  mystery  our  soul  abides. 
But  tasks  in  hours  of  insight  willed, 
Can  be  through  hours  of  gloom  fulfilled." 

DEATH  TO  THE  CHRISTIAN. 

There  is  a  very  fine  illustration  of  the  power  of  mil- 
itary discipline  to  strengthen  a  man's  nerve  and  sense 
of  honor  in  time  of  deadly  peril  in  the  conduct  of  the 
17 


258  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

survivors  of  the  explosion  of  the  battle-ship  Maine. 
After  the  awful  catastrophe,  when  the  ship  was  torn 
and  reeling  like  a  drunken  man,  enveloped  in  smoke, 
as  Captain  Sigsbee  came  out  of  his  cabin,  he  was  met 
by  his  orderly  who  was  on  guard  there,  and  who  had 
not  moved  from  his  place.  Saluting  his  commander, 
the  man  said,  "  Sir,  I  have  the  honor  to  report  that 
the  ship  has  been  blown  up  and  is  sinking."  There 
was  something  splendid  about  that  which  one  can  not 
choose  but  admire ;  but  there  is  something  not  only 
just  as  splendid,  but  with  an  added  touch  of  infinite 
joy,  in  the  case  of  a  Christian  who  feels  that  his  body 
is  failing  him,  but  his  spirit  is  mounting  up  to  a  vic- 
torious life.  Hear  Paul  saying:  "For  we  know  that 
if  our  earthly  house  of  this  tabernacle  were  dissolved, 
we  have  a  building  of  God,  an  house  not  made  with 
hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens." 

THE  RISEN  CHRIST  THE  LIFE  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

That  which  keeps  the  Bible  always  up  to  date, 
making  it  the  most  live  book  in  the  world,  is  the  ever- 
living  Christ  who  lives  in  it.  As  we  come  to  love 
him,  and  are  risen  with  him,  the  Bible  becomes  pre- 
cious to  us.  A  cultivated  literary  critic,  a  lady,  who 
reviewed  a  book  of  a  certain  author,  was  very  severe 
in  her  criticism,  pointing  out  many  flaws.  A  few 
months  afterward  she  became  acquainted  with  the 
author  of  this  book,  and  married  him.  Then  she  re- 
read the  book,  and  said :  "  What  a  beautiful  book ! 
what  a  nice  book !  there  are  some  mistakes  here  and 


BEWARE  OF  INSIGNIFICANT  DISSIPATIONS.    259 

there,  but  they  ought  to  be  overlooked."  And  she 
began  to  recommend  that  book  to  every  one.  The 
book  was  just  the  same  as  it  was  before,  but  her  rela- 
tion to  the  author  was  changed.  Before  he  was  a 
stranger ;  now  he  was  her  husband.  When  she  began 
to  love  him,  she  began  to  love  his  book.  When  we 
come  into  fellowship  with  the  risen  Christ,  the  Bible 
becomes  to  us  the  most  live  and  precious  of  all  the 
books  in  the  world. 

BEWARE  OF  INSIGNIFICANT   DISSIPATIONS. 

Red-headed  woodpeckers  have  destroyed  during  two 
years  a  carload  of  poles  which  supported  the  wires  of 
the  Kansas  City  and  Independence  electric  lines. 
The  busy  little  birds  bore  into  the  poles,  and  scoop 
out  a  cavity^  where  they  lay  their  eggs  and  raise  their 
young.  In  this  way  the  poles  are  weakened  so  that 
they  break  under  the  weight  of  the  wires.  The  wood 
of  the  poles  is  soft  white  cedar,  and  is  easily  pene- 
trated by  the  sharp  bills  of  the  woodpeckers.  The 
supports  of  the  wires  last  usually  ten  years,  but  be- 
cause of  the  nest-making  of  these  little  birds  they  have 
to  be  replaced  at  the  end  of  the  second  year  at  a  cost 
of  $15  apiece.  Last  year  scores  of  the  red-headed 
pests  were  shot  by  the  employees  of  the  electric-rail- 
way company.  There  are  many  little  sins  and  evil 
habits  that  seem  insignificant  which,  however,  eat 
into  the  character  and  breed  a  nestful  of  kindred 
habits,  until  the  whole  character  is  weakened  by  the 
honeycombing  of  those  insidious  sins. 


260  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

^*  CREPT  IN  WITH  MOTHER." 

Clirist  says  that  except  we  come  as  a  little  child  in 
our  spirit  of  reverence  and  affection  toward  God,  we 
can  not  enter  into  his  kingdom.  There  is  something 
very  sweet  and  precious  and  surely  very  suggestive  in 
the  way  strong,  heroic  souls  who  have  feared  no  foe 
and  have  carried  great  burdens  and  led  great  armies 
to  conquest  for  righteousness'  sake,  often  become  like 
little  children  again  as  they  enter  into  the  valley  and 
shadow  of  death.  When  Father  Taylor,  the  great 
Seamen's  Bethel  preacher  in  Boston,  came  to  his  last 
hour  his  daughter  was  bending  over  him.  The  dying 
man  fancied  it  was  his  mother,  who  had  been  many 
years  in  heaven.  Suddenly  he  thrust  out  his  hand 
and  said :  "  Come,  mother,  hear  me  say  my  evening 
prayer."  His  daughter  took  his  hand  in  hers,  and 
the  old  gray-headed  man  said  again  the  first  prayer 
he  ever  learned,  "  Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep, "  and 
was  at  rest.  Frances  Willard  must  have  felt  like 
that  when,  on  that  last  day  of  her  life,  she  looked  up 
into  the  face  of  her  visiting  friend  and  said :  "  I  have 
crept  in  with  mother." 

A  GROWING  TEMPLE. 

Some  of  the  great  cathedrals  of  the  world,  like  the 
famous  one  at  Cologne  on  the  Rhine,  were  hundreds 
of  years  in  building.  A  workman  would  begin  there 
in  his  youth,  and  work  all  his  life,  and  die  and  leave 
it  to  other  hands  to  carry  on.     But  this  Christian 


GIANT  BIRDS  OF  PREY.  261 

temple  has  been  longer  in  building  than  any  of  them, 
and  it  is  of  the  most  value.  An  Indian  wigwam  can 
be  put  up  in  an  hour,  a  log-cabin  can  be  built  in  a 
week,  but  a  great  cathedral  that  is  to  last  for  thou- 
sands of  years  grows  slowly.  The  Christian  temple 
is  to  last  forever.  Jesus  Christ  himself  is  the  chief 
corner-stone,  and  all  the  other  stones  are  modeled  after 
that.  One  by  one  they  are  being  set  in  their  places. 
How  careful  we  ought  to  be  to  so  model  our  thoughts 
and  purposes  and  lives  after  Christ  that  we  will  be 
fitted  to  our  place  in  this  growing  temple  where  God 
is  to  dwell! 

GIANT  BIRDS  OF  PREY. 

Prof.  J.  B.  Hatcher,  of  Princeton  University,  who 
made  a  remarkable  trip  of  exploration  into  a  hitherto 
unknown  region  of  South  America — the  wild  interior 
of  Patagonia — deposited  with  the  Bureau  of  Ethnol- 
ogy in  Washington  a  rich  collection  of  objects  illus- 
trating the  mode  of  life  of  the  various  tribes  of  the 
aborigines  in  that  part  of  the  world.  This  country, 
too,  is  more  than  ordinarily  interesting  in  fossil  re- 
mains of  an  astonishing  fauna.  There  have  been 
discovered  some  skeletons  of  birds  that  had  heads  as 
large  as  those  of  horses.  They  stood  at  least  nine 
feet  high,  and  had  short  wings,  claws  like  an  eagle's, 
and  a  beak  like  a  condor's.  It  is  likely  that  they  at- 
tacked with  success  the  largest  mammals  contempo- 
rary with  them,  being  the  most  enormous  fowls  of 
prey  that  ever  lived;  but  they  became  extmct  long 
ago,  and  so  there  was  no  opportunity  for  Professor 


262  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

Hatcher  to  secure  a  living  specimen.  It  is  too  bad 
that,  with  the  dying  out  of  these  giant  birds  of  prey, 
the  vulture-like  institutions  should  not  have  disap- 
peared as  well.  One  of  them,  human  slavery,  has 
become  extinct  in  most  parts  of  the  world ;  but  the 
liquor  traflRc  stalks  abroad  and  tears  its  victims  as 
never  before.  When  shall  enlightened  Christianity 
arouse  to  united  war  upon  this  bloodthirsty  insti- 
tution ? 

STONES  FROM  MANY  QUARRIES. 

Sometimes  in  a  great  state-house  or  capitol  build- 
ing we  see  different-colored  marbles  brought  from 
different  parts  of  the  world,  and  especially  from  the 
different  states  of  the  Union.  The  stones  of  Iowa 
and  Vermont  and  Oregon  will  lie  side  by  side  in  the 
beautiful  structure.  There  never  was  a  temple  built 
with  so  many  varieties  of  stones  as  the  great  Christian 
temple  for  which  Jesus  Christ  is  gathering  material 
from  all  parts  of  the  world.  Not  only  are  they  com- 
ing from  England  and  France  and  Germany  and  Italy 
and  Russia  and  America,  but  the  missionaries  with 
patient  love  and  tender  devotion  are  bringing  multi- 
tudes of  precious  stones  from  India,  Japan,  China, 
and  the  isles  of  the  sea,  to  have  their  places  in  the 
beautiful  building. 

MAKING  THE  MOST  OF  ONE'S  OPPORTUNITY. 

A  negro  in  a  jail  in  Kentucky,  who  was  of  a  musical 
turn  of  mind,  missed  his  favorite  banjo,  and  set  about, 
in  his  spare  moments,  an  attempt  to  make  something 


GIVING  OUR  BEST  TO  CHRIST.  263 

to  play  on.  He  took  the  tin  pan  in  which  his  daily 
meal  was  brought  and  made  the  head  of  the  banjo.  A 
rough  piece  of  poplar,  smoothed  with  an  old  broken- 
bladed  Barlow  knife,  was  made  into  the  neck  and 
screws.  He  took  twelve  cents,  all  the  money  he  had, 
and  by  the  aid  of  the  jailer  bought  five  strings,  and 
his  odd-looking  banjo,  under  his  skilful  touch,  was 
ready  to  make  the  sweetest  music.  The  homely  little 
story  has  its  message.  Many  of  us  let  go  to  waste 
opportunities  for  enjoyment  and  blessing  enough  to 
fill  a  dozen  hearts  with  gladness.  If  we  set  to  work 
to  find  the  bright  side  we  shall  be  astonished  to 
see  how  bright  it  is. 

GIVING  OUR  BEST  TO  CHRIST. 

While  there  was  pending  a  bill  which  had  been  in- 
troduced into  Congress  to  preserve  as  a  military  park 
the  splendid  and  picturesque  Palisades  of  the  Hudson, 
the  work  of  their  destruction  went  forward  with  great 
rapidity.  The  snorting  drills  which  pounded  all  day 
long,  eating  holes  in  the  clifP-top  for  the  explosives, 
were  operated  by  a  large  engine,  protected  by  an  un- 
painted  shed.  This  unsightly  building  added  to  the 
hideousness  of  the  scarred  and  mournful  scenery. 
Within  a  month  the  force  of  men  employed  was  in- 
creased from  seventy-five  to  one  hundred  and  eighty, 
and  the  demolition  went  on  at  a  disheartening  rate. 
Heavy  boulders,  torn  from  the  crags  above,  were 
blasted  into  fragments  every  few  hours,  and  scores 
of  men  were  employed  loading  and  sending  to   the 


264  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

crusher  carloads  of  the  rock  to  be  pulverized  for 
road-makmg.  A  spot  which  should  be  one  of  nature's 
most  beautiful  pictures  became  an  eyesore,  a  sordid 
scene  of  desolation.  How  sad  that  Congress  waited 
so  long !  But  it  is  sadder  still  to  see  a  young  man  or 
a  young  woman  permitting  the  best  years  of  youth 
and  hope  to  be  eaten  up  in  frivolity  and  sin  instead  of 
giving  to  Christ  the  strength  and  beauty  of  their 
young  souls. 

COMMUNICATION  WITH  GOD. 

The  person  who  wrote  that  electricity  was  one  of 
the  "  mighty  agents  of  nature  enchained  by  the  inge- 
nuity of  man  "  can  scarcely  have  contemplated  in  his 
wildest  dreams  the  full  extent  of  that  ingenuity.  For 
instance,  he  would  hardly  have  prophesied  that 
a  sick  man,  far  from  the  habitations  of  civilization, 
would  cut  a  telegraph  wire  in  order  to  obtain  as- 
sistance. And  yet  such  a  thing  really  occurred. 
The  whole  of  the  vast  continent  of  Australia  was  once 
practically  cut  off  from  European  news  for  nearly 
twenty-four  hours  in  consequence  of  an  interruption 
on  the  line  between  Adelaide  and  Port  Darwm.  In- 
quiries were  made,  and  it  was  found  that  the  wire  had 
been  cut  by  a  cyclist  who  was  taken  ill  while  on  a 
journey  across  the  continent.  It  is  not  related  how 
he  set  about  it,  but  he  had  the  satisfaction,  at  any 
rate,  of  getting  what  he  wanted,  God  has  so  made 
the  human  soul  that  none  of  us  need  cut  off  communi- 
cation for  others  in  order  to  reach  the  ear  of  heaven. 


WHO  GOES  HOME?  265 

Wherever  a  human  heart  turns  toward  God  in  simple 
prayer  the  unseen  wire  carries  the  petition  to  the 
Heavenly  Father's  heart. 

THE  CONDITIONS  OF  SPIRITUAL  GROWTH. 

There  is  a  very  odd  tree  in  an  orchard  near  Mil- 
waukee, Wis.  It  is  an  old  apple-tree  that  was 
planted  twenty-eight  years  ago,  with  its  limbs  in  the 
ground  and  its  roots  in  the  air,  and  which  still  lives 
to  bear  an  occasional  apple  and  sprout  branches  where 
roots  should  be,  and  roots  where  twigs  and  leaves 
should  be,  a  curiosity  to  beholders.  The  farmer  was 
induced  to  make  the  trial  through  an  old  German 
legend,  in  which  such  an  inverted  tree  played  a  prom- 
inent part.  But  altho  it  still  lives,  and  bears  now 
and  then  an  apple,  it  is  only  a  curiosity  and  bears  no 
fruit  of  any  account.  The  people  who  try  to  live 
Christian  lives  without  being  planted  in  the  Christian 
church,  and  letting  their  roots  run  down  into  the  re- 
sponsibilities of  church  life,  are  very  much  like  that 
inverted  tree.  The  Christians  who  really  bear  fruit 
are  those  who  are  rooted  deep  and  solid  in  the  garden 
of  the  Lord. 

WHO  GOES  HOME? 

There  is  a  quaint  old  custom  still  observed  in  the 
English  House  of  Commons.  The  moment  the  House 
is  adjourned,  messengers  and  policemen  cry  aloud  in 
the  lobbies  and  corridors,  "Who  goes  home?"  These 
mysterious  words  have  sounded  every  night  for  cen- 


266  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

turies  through  the  palace  of  Westminster.  The  cus- 
tom dates  from  a  time  when  it  was  necessary  for  mem- 
bers to  go  home  in  parties  accompanied  by  soldiers 
for  common  protection  against  highwaymen  who  in- 
fested the  streets  of  London;  but  tho  that  danger  has 
long  since  passed  away,  the  question,  "Who  goes 
home?  "  is  still  asked,  night  after  night,  during  the 
session  of  Parliament.  Many  a  danger  lurks  beside 
the  way  of  life,  but  generous  is  the  hospitality  of 
heaven,  and  Christ,  the  Guide  and  Savior  of  the  soul, 
is  ever  tenderly  inquiring,  "  Who  goes  home?  " 

ABRAHAM'S  ANGELS. 

It  is  a  hot  day,  and  it  is  high  noon.  Abraham, 
the  friend  of  God,  is  sitting  at  the  door  of  his  tent 
under  the  shadow  of  a  group  of  great  oak-trees.  He 
is  a  splendid  figure  with  his  long,  white,  patriarchal 
beard.  He  has  a  turban  on  his  head,  and  sandals  on 
his  feet,  and  is  a  veritable  picture  out  of  the  old  won- 
der-book of  the  East.  Suddenly  the  old  man  becomes 
brightly  awake  at  the  sight  of  three  strange  visitors. 
Altho  their  abrupt  appearance  is  remarkable,  he  does 
not  at  first  know  that  they  are  from  heaven,  but 
supposes  that  they  are  three  brother  men  weary  with 
travel.  When  he  sees  them  approaching,  he  springs 
to  his  feet  like  a  boy,  and  runs  to  meet  them,  and 
bows  himself  to  the  ground,  and  begs  that  they  will 
not  pass  by,  but  stay  and  permit  him  to  entertain 
them.  Water  is  brought  to  wash  their  feet.  They 
are  given  a  cool  place  under  the  trees.     Fresh  bread 


THE  POWER  OF  A  SMILE.  267 

is  baked,  and  Abraham  goes  himself  to  the  herd  and 
fetches  a  calf,  and  gives  it  to  a  servant,  with  orders 
to  hurry  the  dressing  of  it.  And  when  it  is  prepared, 
instead  of  calling  one  of  his  servants  to  serve"  his 
guests,  this  splendid  old  prince  himself  takes  the  fresh 
cakes  from  Sarah's  hands,  and  butter  and  milk,  and 
the  calf,  fresh-roasted  over  the  coals,  and  sets  it  be- 
fore them,  and  serves  them  while  they  eat.  Now, 
Abraham  did  all  this  while  he  thought  they  were  sim- 
ply his  brother  men,  It  is  through  our  brother  men 
that  we  find  God. 

THE  POWER  OF  A  SMILE. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  colonies  in  America,  a  gen- 
tleman upon  the  frontier  was  hunting  with  his  friends 
when  he  became  separated  from  them,  and  completely 
lost  his  way.  Every  effort  to  retrieve  his  steps  led 
him  still  farther  into  the  wilderness,  and  night  over- 
took him  in  a  dense  forest.  Overcome  with  fatigue, 
he  lay  down  under  a  tree  and  slept  heavily.  In  the 
morning  he  awoke  with  a  start,  oppressed  with  that 
indescribable  feeling  that  some  one  was  looking  at 
him,  and,  looking  up,  saw  that  he  was  surrounded  by 
hostile  Indians,  and  that  the  chief  of  the  band,  in 
war-paint  and  feathers,  was  bending  over  him  with 
bitter  hate  depicted  in  his  features.  He  took  in  the 
situation  at  a  glance — knew  his  immediate  danger, 
and  had  no  means  of  averting  it ;  neither  did  he  un- 
derstand a  word  of  their  language.  But  he  was  self- 
possessed,  knew  the  universal  language  of  nature,  and 


268  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

believed  that  even  under  war-paint  and  feathers  "  a 
man's  a  man  for  a'  that. "  He  fixed  his  clear  eye  upon 
the  Indian,  and — smiled!  Gradually  the  fierceness 
passed  away  from  the  eye  above  him,  and  at  last  an 
answering  smile  came  over  the  face.  Both  were  men 
— both  were  brothers — and  he  was  saved!  The  sav- 
age took  him  under  his  protection,  brought  him  to  his 
wigwam,  and  after  a  few  days  restored  him  to  his 
friends.     His  kindly  smile  had  saved  his  life. 

THE  HEALENG  POWER  OF  A  HAPPY  HEART. 

I  know  a  man  who  not  long  ago  gave  his  heart  to 
Christ,  and  has  since  lived  a  very  happy  Christian, 
who  for  a  long  time  prior  to  his  conversion  had  been 
so  eaten  up  by  care  and  anxiety  that  he  had  been  dys- 
peptic on  account  of  it.  His  religion  had  the  happy 
effect  of  healing  not  only  his  mind  and  heart,  but  his 
body  as  well.  When  he  became  happy  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  forgiveness  of  his  sins  and  rejoiced 
in  peace  with  God,  his  mind  was  at  rest.  He  quit 
worrying.  He  did  not  fret  any  more.  He  slept  well, 
he  had  a  good  appetite,  and  digested  his  food  without 
difficulty.  He  had  a  friend  who  was  an  infidel,  who 
did  not  believe  in  the  Bible  or  in  Christ,  but  who  was 
also  a  dyspeptic.  They  had  been  accustomed  to  meet 
and  lunch  together  in  a  restaurant.  When  the  skep- 
tic saw  that  his  friend's  dyspepsia  was  gone,  he  was 
anxious  to  know  what  had  cured  him.  And  when  he 
was  told,  with  a  happy,  sincere  face  behind  it,  that  it 
was  the  joyous  heart  that  had  come  to  him  through 


PLYMOUTH  CHURCH  AND  THE  SOLDIERS.  269 

Jesus  Christ,  you  may  be  sure  that  it  aroused  that 
man's  attention  as  a  thousand  sermons  from  the  pul- 
pit never  could  have  done,  and  the  skeptic  was  glad 
to  go  with  his  Christian  friend  to  hear  the  message 
which  had  so  transformed  him.  The  greatest  evi- 
dence of  Christianity  is  a  transformed  life. 

THE  CHIME-ROOM  OF  THE  SOUL, 

Did  you  ever  hear  the  chime  of  bells  ringing  out 
some  old  hymn-tune  from  the  tower  of  a  great 
cathedral,  and  wonder  how  it  was  played?  If  you 
would  see  the  musician,  you  must  go  into  a  little 
chime-room  on  the  ground  floor,  hidden  away  from 
public  view,  and  there  at  a  keyboard,  looking  very 
much  like  that  of  an  old-fashioned  melodeon,  you  will 
see,  possibly,  a  young  girl  playing  away  as  quietly 
as  tho  she  were  playing  the  tune  for  the  hymn  at 
evening  prayers;  but  the  electric  current  connected 
with  her  keys  touches  the  great  bells  in  the  cathedral 
tower,  and  sets  them  in  motion  and  harmonious  ring- 
ing. Every  human  heart  that  surrenders  itself  to 
Jesus  Christ  becomes  a  chime-room  where  invisible 
keys  are  touched  by  the  great  Musician,  and  waken  a 
melody  of  life  that  is  full  of  the  sweetness  of  heaven. 

PLYMOUTH  CHURCH  AND  THE  SOLDIERS. 

I  remember  hearing  Henry  Ward  Beecher  tell  how, 
soon  after  the  opening  of  the  War  of  the  Eebellion,  a 
regiment  of  troops  that  had  just  been  enlisted  from 


270  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

among  the  lumber-camps  of  Maine  arrived  in  New 
York  one  afternoon  to  find  that,  through  some  acci- 
dent, no  proper  arrangements  had  been  made  for  their 
reception  and  entertainment.  Mr.  Beecher,  hearing 
about  it,  went  across  to  New  York  and  offered  the 
troops  the  hospitality  of  Plymouth  Church.  He 
brought  them  over  and  turned  them  loose  to  sleep  in 
the  great  audience-room ;  every  man  stretched  himself 
out  on  a  cushion  in  a  pew,  and  they  occupied  the  en- 
tire auditorium,  galleries  and  all.  Mr.  Beecher  said 
he  went  in  at  midnight  to  look  at  them,  and  laugh- 
ingly remarked  that  it  was  the  first  time  he  had  ever 
seen  all  his  audience  asleep  at  once.  It  was  that 
kind  of  hospitality  toward  the  soldier  and  the  Union 
that  made  Plymouth  Church  preeminently  the  soldiers' 
church  throughout  the  years  of  the  war. 

THE  BANNER  OF  THE  CROSS. 

The  war  has  brought  out  a  great  many  interesting 
things  about  flags,  and  everything  of  that  sort.  The 
white  flag  is  the  sign  of  peace.  After  a  battle  parties 
from  both  sides  often  go  out  to  the  field  to  rescue  the 
wounded  or  bury  the  dead,  under  the  protection  of 
the  white  flag.  The  red  flag  is  a  sign  of  defiance, 
and  is  often  used  by  revolutionists.  In  the  United 
States  navy  it  is  a  mark  of  danger,  and  shows  a  ves- 
sel to  be  receiving  or  discharging  her  powder.  The 
black  flag  is  the  sign  of  piracy.  The  yellow  flag 
shows  a  vessel  to  be  in  quarantine,  and  is  the  sign  of 
contagious  disease.     A  flag  at  half-mast  means  mourn- 


THE  STORY  OF  ELY  CATHEDRAL.  271 

ing.  If  the  President  of  the  United  States  goes  on 
board  a  ship,  the  American  flag  is  carried  in  the  bow 
of  his  barge,  or  hoisted  at  the  main  of  the  vessel  on 
board  of  which  he  is.  Our  Christian  flag  is  the  banner 
of  the  Cross.  It  means  that  the  church  is  in  the 
world  to  save  souls,  and  no  church  ought  ever  to  pull 
that  banner  down.  Summer  and  winter,  week-day 
and  Sunday,  it  should  always  be  kept  afloat  by  the 
disciples  of  Jesus. 

THE  STORY  OF  ELY  CATHEDRAL. 

There  is  a  pleasing  old  anecdote  which  is  told  of 
the  beginnings  of  Ely  minster.  Ages  and  ages  ago 
one  Brithnoth,  a  mighty  warrior  before  the  Lord,  was 
on  his  way  to  fight  the  Norwegian  Olaf  and  his  vikings, 
who  were  descending  upon  the  coast  for  no  good  pur- 
pose. He' came  to  the  abbey  of  Eamsey,  and  was 
churlishly  refused  hospitality  by  the  abbot,  save  for 
himself  only  and  five  or  six  of  his  selected  friends. 
"  Tell  my  lord  abbot, "  cried  Brithnoth,  ''  that  I  will 
not  dine  without  my  men,  because  I  can  not  fight  with- 
out them, "  and  so  passed  on  to  the  abbey  of  Ely,  where 
the  abbot,  Elsin,  warned  of  his  coming,  sent  to  meet 
him  with  the  wiser  message  that  "  in  acts  of  kindness 
and  charity  the  abbot  of  Ely  was  not  deterred  by  any 
numbers,  but  rather  rejoiced  at  the  occasion  of  their 
coming."  There  he  and  his  men  were  sumptuously 
entertained,  and  on  the  next  day,  to  show  his  grati- 
tude, the  great  warrior  met  the  abbot  and  monks  in 
the  chapter-house,  thanked  them  for  their  noble  hos- 


272  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

pitality,  and  put  thein  into  possession  at  once  of  many 
rich  and  valuable  manors.  It  was  thus  that  the  great 
fabric  of  Ely  secured  its  roots  in  the  soil,  and  through 
its  kindness  and  hospitality  paved  the  way  for  the 
magnificent  structure  which  now  makes  one  of  the  his- 
toric monuments  of  England. 

THE  HOSPITALITY  OF  THE  POOR. 

Erora  many  years  of  observation  among  the  very 
poor  in  our  large  cities,  I  am  convinced  that  the  great- 
est hospitality  and  helpfulness  shown  in  our  cities 
come  from  the  poor,  who  divide  their  insufficient  pit- 
tance and  share  it  with  some  one  else  who  is  poorer 
than  they.  The  hospitable  soul  is  brought  into  close 
touch  with  the  God  who  declares  that  it  is  more  blessed 
to  give  than  to  receive.  The  poor  widow  woman  in 
Zarephath  made  a  good  investment  when  she  divided 
her  last  handful  of  meal  and  oil  with  Elijah.  The 
meal-barrel  and  oil-cruse  became  temples  of  the  Lord, 
and  they  wasted  not,  but  abounded  in  comfort  for 
many  a  long  day.  It  will  be  a  neighborly  world  when 
that  spirit  possesses  all  hearts.  The  first  great  prac- 
tical influence  which  Christianity  has  among  men  is 
to  make  them  good  neighbors. 

THE  TRUE  RING. 

Not  long  ago  the  attention  of  the  business  men  of 
the  country  was  called  to  the  large  number  of  coun- 
terfeit silver  dollars  in  circulation.     The  counterfeits 


TURN  YOUR  RAKE  OVER.  273 

were  such  remarkably  close  imitations  that  it  was  al- 
most impossible  to  detect  them,  and  the  Government 
experts  were  frequently  at  a  loss  to  choose  between 
the  counterfeit  and  the  true.  So  serious  was  the  sit- 
uation that  the  treasury  officials  made  it  the  subject 
of  a  communication  to  Congress  regarding  the  propri- 
ety of  adopting  a  new  device  for  the  coin,  it  being 
estimated  that  there  were  fully  $2,000,000  worth  of 
these  spurious  coins  in  circulation.  Yet  nobody  re- 
fuses good  silver  dollars  because  counterfeits  are 
abroad.  Nothing  can  be  more  foolish  than  the  excuse 
which  some  people  give  for  not  becoming  Christians. 
They  say  that  so  many  professors  of  Christianity  are 
hypocrites  that  therefore  they  will  stay  oat  altogether. 
While  there  is  now  and  then  a  counterfeit  life,  it  re- 
mains true  that  the  life  of  Jesus  is  ever  the  same  di- 
vine and  holy  career,  and  for  every  counterfeit  Chris- 
tian there  are  many  whose  lives  ring  out  true  every 
time.  Men  would  not  counterfeit  silver  dollars  if 
real  silver  dollars  were  not  abundant  and  valuable ;  so 
men  would  not  counterfeit  Christianity  if  it  were  not 
so  precious  a  thing. 

TURN  YOUR  RAKE  OVER. 

Everything  depends  on  the  spirit  with  which  we 
work.  The  labor  of  many  people  amounts  to  nothing 
because  it  means  nothing  to  them.  There  is  no  defi- 
nite grip  of  purpose  in  what  they  do.  I  saw  a  little 
boy  take  up  a  rake  in  a  New  Hampshire  hay-field  in 
July,  and  he  went  raking  about,  imitating  the  men, 
18 


274  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

except  that  the  teeth  of  the  rake  were  turned  up. 
The  raking  was  easier  that  way,  but  he  gathered  no 
hay.  I  know  some  preachers  and  Sunday-school 
teachers  and  Christian  workers  who  do  all  their  raking 
that  way.  They  rake  a  great  deal,  and  go  through 
lots  of  motions,  but  they  rake  with  the  teeth  up  and 
never  gather  any  hay.  Good  results  are  only  obtained 
by  people  who  set  the  teeth  of  their  purpose  deep  into 
what  they  are  doing  and  rake  for  results ;  such  people 
bring  things  to  pass. 

THE  GOSPEL  TRAMP. 

I  sometimes  wonder  how  the  people  who  slip  along 
in  this  world  without  any  fellowship  with  Christ  in 
carrying  the  burdens  that  press  on  his  shoulders  ex- 
pect to  enjoy  heaven.  Many  people  come  in  from  the 
country  and  bring  their  church  letters  with  them,  or 
their  card  introducing  them  to  the  young  people's 
society,  but  they  delay  entering  at  once  into  the  fel- 
lowship and  service  of  the  church.  They  think  they 
will  rest  and  look  about  awhile,  and  before  they  know 
it  they  have  formed  the  habit  of  gadding  about  like  a 
stray  dog  without  a  master,  and  are  of  no  value  any- 
where. A  city  pastor  recently  had  this  dream :  St. 
Peter  stood  at  heaven's  gate.  A  company  of  self- 
complacent  men  and  women  came  smiling  up  to  the 
beautiful  gate.  "  And  who  are  you?  "  said  St.  Peter. 
'*  Church  members,  every  one  of  us, "  replied  the 
spokesman  of  the  party.  "Indeed?"  "Yes,  here  are 
are  our  letters,  Peter.     We  kept  them  stored  away  in 


FAMILY  RELIGION.  275 

our  trunks,  and  specially  requested  that  they  might  be 
placed  within  our  hands  when  we  should  lie  in  our 
caskets.  We  knew  you  would  be  asking  for  them." 
"  Let  me  see  the  dates,"  said  Peter.  "  Eighteen  hun- 
dred and  seventy -nine — h'm,  nineteen  years  ago. 
Here  is  another — 1884 — 1889 — well,  that  is  a  trifle 
better.  Eighteen  hundred  and  ninety-two — can  it  be 
that  all  these  years  you  have  failed  to  identify  your- 
selves with  any  church  of  Jesus?"  "Well,  Peter, 
you  see,  we  were  '  moving  '  so  often,  when  we  were 
down  below,  and  then  the  ties  to  the  dear  old  home 
church  were  so  sacred.  We  did  not  wish  to  hurt  the 
feelings  of  our  dear  old  pastors.  So  we  have  simply 
gone  from  church  to  church, — but,  oh,  Peter,  we  have 
become  wonderful  '  sermon  tasters. '  "  But  they  lost 
their  smiles  when  St.  Peter  closed  the  gate  in  their 
faces,  saying,  "  I  fear  you  would  not  be  happy  in  the 
upper  temple." 

FAMILY  RELIGION. 

There  is  a  wonderful  amount  of  food  for  meditation 
in  regard  to  family  religion  in  those  first  few  verses 
of  the  sixth  chapter  of  Paul's  letter  to  the  Ephesians. 
Nothing  will  help  one  so  much  to  perfect  genuineness 
in  Christian  life  as  the  attempt  to  live  Christianity  at 
home.  An  Irish  evangelist  who  had  been  before  his 
conversion  a  miserable  drunkard,  and  who  afterward 
became  a  very  good  man,  used  to  tell  of  the  transfor- 
mation which  Divine  grace  had  made  in  him,  and 
would  frequently  clinch  his  testimony  by  pointing  to 


276  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

his  blushing  wife  and  saying :  "  If  you  don't  believe 
me,  ask  'Maudy !  "  It  must  be  a  pretty  genuine  man 
who  can  appeal  to  the  people  who  know  him  best  in 
daily  life  as  witnesses  to  his  genuineness. 

THE  DANGER  OF  SELFISHNESS. 

Ella  Wheeler  Wilcox  sings  with  graphic  force  the 
oft-taught  truth  that  the  only  real  danger  that  can 
come  to  us  is  from  within,  and  not  from  without. 

"Not  from  my  foes  without,  but  those  within, 

1  pray  to  be  protected  hour  by  hour ; 
For  that  aggressive  self  that  leads  to  sin. 

And  lures  to  pleasure  with  seductive  power, 
Stands  ever  by  the  portal  of  desire, 

And  mocks  my  spirit  when  it  would  aspire.  " 

THE  GIVE  AND  TAKE  OF  LIFE. 

A  very  remarkable  thing  once  happened  in  Minne- 
sota, on  the  Great  Northern  Railroad.  A  company 
of  men  working  on  the  road  were  suddenly  startled  by 
seeing  fully  half  a  mile  of  the  track  lifted  from  the 
road-bed  and  thrown  into  a  ditch.  In  some  places 
the  track  was  thrown  six  feet  from  the  road-bed,  and 
down  a  steep  embankment.  The  men  say  it  was  done 
so  quickly  that  they  could  hardly  realize  what  had 
happened.  It  looked  as  if  some  supernatural  power 
had  lifted  the  track  from  the  ground  and  hurled  it 
aside.  The  weather  had  been  intensely  hot,  and  it 
is  supposed  that  the  rails  had  not  been  given  sufficient 
room  to  expand  with  freedom.     In  dealing  with  iron 


WHOSE  SERVANT  ARE  YOUf  277 

or  steel  one  must  take  into  consideration  the  give  and 
take  of  the  metal  under  heat  or  cold.  In  this  case  a 
passenger  train  was  flagged  barely  in  time  to  save  a 
wreck.  The  human  heart  under  restraint,  yet  lacking 
the  spirit  of  worship  and  the  freedom  of  love,  is  like 
a  constrained  piece  of  steel.  There  is  certain  to  be 
an  explosion.  In  fellowship  with  Jesus  Christ  there 
is  provision  for  the  expansion  and  contraction  of  the 
soul. 

THE  GOLDEN  RULE  IN  BUSINESS. 

The  noise  of  strikes  and  strife  is  in  the  air  through- 
out the  middle  section  of  the  country  where  the  great 
coal-mines  are  found.  The  coal-miners  are  the  stokers 
down  in  the  hold  of  the  great  ship  of  modern  civiliza- 
tion. Nobody's  work  is  quite  so  dirty  and  dark  as 
theirs.  Surely  they  deserve  just  wages  and  generous 
treatment.  Unwise  as  some  of  their  leaders  may  be, 
it  ought  not  to  remain  true  that  this  large  army  of 
coal-diggers  who  dig  their  lives  into  veins  of  coal  un- 
derground, thus  bringing  good  cheer  to  all  our  fire- 
sides, are  on  the  whole  the  poorest  paid  set  of  workers 
in  the  country.  The  only  way  to  daylight  in  the  set- 
tlement of  such  disputes  is  an  application  of  the  Golden 
Rule  of  Jesus  Christ. 

WHOSE  SERVANT  ARE  YOU? 

The  hardships  and  trials  of  Paul's  life  were  lifted 
out  of  the  mean  and  the  commonplace  because  he 
looked  upon  them  all  as  so  many  acts  of  service  for 


278  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

Christ,  whom  he  loved.  Love  is  an  easy  taskmaster. 
To  have  borne  hardship  and  imprisonment  for  Nero's 
sake,  or  as  his  prisoner,  would  have  galled  Paul  to 
the  very  quick;  but  when  he  was  in  Nero's  dungeon 
for  Christ's  sake,  it  was  a  very  different  matter.  The 
way  to  make  our  lives  romantic  and  splendid  is  to  give 
ourselves  in  such  complete  devotion  to  Christ  that  the 
hard  things  of  life  will  be  borne  in  the  spirit  of  love 
for  his  dear  sake. 

RENEWING  OUR  YOUTH. 

Queen  Victoria  remarked  to  a  guest  at  a  garden 
party  at  Buckingham  Palace,  about  the  time  of  the 
great  Jubilee  exercises,  "  This  jubilee  means  one  thing : 
it  means  I  am  a  very  old  woman. "  Even  the  Empress 
of  India  can  not  help  being  the  prisoner  of  old  age ; 
and  yet  in  another  sense  she  may,  in  common  with 
the  humblest  washerwoman,  find  freedom  and  renew 
her  youth  as  the  "  prisoner  of  Jesus  Christ. "  Paul, 
as  such  a  prisoner,  could  say  in  the  face  of  approach- 
ing age,  "  We  know  that  if  our  earthly  house  of  this 
tabernacle  were  dissolved,  we  have  a  building  of  God, 
an  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens." 

GATHERING  SPIRITUAL  GOLD. 

Juan  Carillo,  who  raises  cattle  near  the  Mexican 
line  in  Arizona,  is  reported  to  have  made  a  most  inter- 
esting discovery.  On  his  ranch  are  salt-licks  which 
contain  placer  gold,  but  so  fine  is  the  gold-dast  that 
it  can  not  be  saved  from  the  sand.     Eecently  Carillo 


TREES  OR  STUMPS— WHICH?  279 

killed  a  steer,  and  in  the  lining  of  its  stomach  found 
four  ounces  of  fine  gold.  The  steer  had  licked  up 
four  ounces  of  gold  in  less  than  two  months.  The 
salt  in  the  earth  had  chlorinized  the  metal,  and  the 
lining  of  the  stomach  had  served  as  a  coarse  blanket 
at  the  bottom  of  a  sluice  in  preserving  the  gold.  A 
reverent  soul  that  sees  God  in  everything  gathers  up 
out  of  daily  life  the  fine  gold  that  is  lost  by  the  un- 
thinking worldling. 

SMOTHERED  TO  DEATH. 

A  sad  thing  happened  in  Henderson,  Ivy.,  when  two 
little  girls  who  were  playing  hide-and-^eek  with  three 
other  children  went  into  the  cellar  to  find  a  hiding- 
place.  Seeing  a  large,  old-fashioned  trunk  in  one 
corner,  they  raised  the  lid  and  jumped  inside.  The 
top  f ell'and  closed  with  a  tight  spring  lock,  and  before 
they  were  found  they  had  been  smothered  to  death. 
Sad  as  it  is,  this  heartbreaking  incident  is  only  a  fit- 
ting type  of  the  smothering  to  death  of  spiritual  life 
by  men  and  women  all  about  us.  The  heart  that  does 
not  worship  God,  but  twines  its  affections  about  thmgs 
of  the  world,  will  soon  smother  to  death  its  noblest 
life. 

TREES  OR  STUMPS— \miCH? 

A  great  lawsuit  grew  out  of  the  sale  of  a  tract  of 
land  in  New  Jersey.  A  man  was  induced  to  put  in  a 
large  sum  of  money  to  become  part  purchaser  of  a  vast 
section  of  land  which  was  said  to  be  covered  with  vir- 


280  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

gin  forests  of  oak  and  maple ;  but  when  the  purchaser 
went  to  look  at  the  land,  he  found  on  the  property, 
instead  of  a  river  large  enough  to  float  logs  to  market, 
as  had  been  described,  only  a  little  brook.  Instead  of  a 
vast  forest,  there  were  innumerable  unsightly  and  rot- 
ting stumps.  I  fear  such  is  the  spectacle  many  pro- 
fessed Christians  present  to  God.  The  best  timber  of 
their  life  is  cut  off  and  used  to  further  their  selfish 
worldly  interests,  and  only  the  stumps  are  left  for 
him  who  has  a  right  to  our  best  worship  and  service. 

THE  DANGER  OF  THE  FOG. 

A  fine  ship  went  down  on  the  Black  Rock,  near  the 
entrance  to  the  harbor  of  Halifax.  The  ship  was 
strong  and  she  had  a  fine  cargo,  and  was  manned  by  a 
faithful  captain  and  crew,  but  the  fog  that  gathered 
about  the  ship  was  so  dense  that  the  sailors  could 
scarcely  see  their  hands  before  their  faces.  There  is 
an  atmosphere  which  rises  from  the  slough  of  sin 
about  us  which  often  clouds  the  mind  and  heart  with 
its  fog  of  temptation.  Perilous  indeed  is  our  situa- 
tion in  such  a  case  if  we  depend  upon  our  own  vision. 
But  there  is  a  Pilot  to  whom  we  may  yield  the  wheel, 
who  can  see  through  all  the  fogs  which  gather  about  a 
human  life,  and  guide  the  ship  to  safety. 

A  MESSAGE  FROM  HEAVEN. 

The  scientific  men  have  been  puzzled  by  an  aerial 
visitor  that  dropped  in  the  vicinity  of  Binghamton, 
N.  Y.     A  gentleman  returning  home  at  an  early  hour 


THE  BUILDING  OF  CHARACTER.  281 

in  the  morning  beheld  a  blinding  flash  of  light,  and  an 
object  buried  itself  in  the  ground  a  short  distance  from 
hifi  house.  Later  it  was  dug  up,  and  found  to  be  a 
mass  of  some  foreign  substance  that  had  been  fused 
by  intense  heat.  It  was  still  hot,  and  when  cooled  off 
in  water  was  broken  open.  Inside  was  found  what 
appeared  like  a  piece  of  metal,  on  which  were  a  num- 
ber of  curious  marks  somewhat  resembling  Egyptian 
hieroglyphics.  Several  persons  have  advanced  the 
opinion  that  this  is  a  message  from  another  planet, 
probably  Mars.  Whether  this  be  a  message  from 
another  world  or  not,  we  have  a  message  in  the  Bible 
from  the  very  heart  of  God,  and  it  is  our  glorious 
privilege  to  carry  the  good  news  of  that  message  to 
those  who  know  it  not. 

THE  BUILDING  OF  CHARACTER. 

To  the  geologist  the  east  coast  of  Florida  is  one  of 
the  most  interesting  portions  of  the  earth's  surface. 
In  the  eyes  of  science  it  was  but  yesterday  when  the 
surf  beat  on  what  is  now  the  western  shore  of  the  St. 
Johns  Eiver.  To  the  eastward  of  this  line  the  corals 
built  a  long  bar;  gradually  this  caught  the  earth 
washed  from  the  shore,  and  on  this  plants  grew  and 
then  trees.  This  made  of  the  St.  Johns  a  long  salt- 
water lagoon.  As  the  coast  widened,  and  the  coral 
worked,  the  lagoon  filled  in  and  drainage  from  both 
sides  made  it  fresh.  So  character  is  built  up.  For 
good  or  ill,  our  thoughts  and  meditations  are  con- 
stantly leaving  their  sediment  in  our  heart,  and  as  we 


282  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

meditate  and  muse  in  certain  lines,  a  reef  is  thrown 
out  that  catches  the  wash  of  our  thinking  and  doing, 
until  after  a  while  it  becomes  the  bed-rock  principle 
on  which  we  think  and  act.  To  make  sure  of  a  good 
character  one  must  be  certain  to  keep  guard  over  the 
thoughts. 

THE  EVIDENCE  OF  THE  COUNTENANCE. 

An  inheritance  case  was  decided  in  Kingston,  N.  Y., 
where  an  estate  of  $30,000  was  involved,  on  the  evi- 
dence of  the  large  and  peculiarly  shaped  noses  of  two 
of  the  claimants.  It  came  out  in  the  hearings  that 
all  the  male  members  of  the  family  in  question  had 
very  prominent  noses  of  a  peculiar  shape,  and  the 
referee  finally  decided,  more  upon  the  physical  simi- 
larity of  their  noses  than  anything  else,  that  these  two 
claimants  were  the  nephews  of  the  man  who  had  left 
the  inheritance.  Men  will  know  us  as  Christians  be- 
cause we  show  forth  the  traits  of  Christ  in  our  daily 
lives.  Our  spiritual  countenances  should  be  so  like 
his  that  those  who  know  us  best  will  have  no  doubt 
that  we  are  his  heirs  and  are  living  in  his  spirit. 

SOME  OTHER  WAY. 

Some  scoundrels  in  Philadelphia  have  been  trying 
to  get  rich  by  furnishing  foreigners  with  a  short  cut 
to  citizenship.  It  has  been  shown  that  fraudulent 
naturalization  papers  have  been  sold  to  recently  ar- 
rived immigrants  at  $17  a  head.     Sad  as  it  is  to  have 


A  STARVED  SOUL.  283 

our  citizenship  debauched  in  that  way,  it  is  sadder 
yet  to  have  people  come  into  the  church,  and  cause 
others  to  believe  that  they  are  truly  Christians,  when 
they  have  had  no  genuine  change  of  purpose  or  trans- 
formation of  spirit.  Christ  says  whoever  climbs  up 
some  other  way  is  a  thief  and  a  robber.  Christ  only 
is  the  true  door;  through  him  we  may  go  in  and  out 
and  find  pasture. 

A  STARVED  SOUL. 

A  man  has  lately  died  worth  a  hundred  millions  of 
dollars  who  is  said  to  have  literally  starved  to  death. 
For  months  he  was  utterly  unable  to  digest  any  solid 
food,  and  altho  he  gave  great  feasts,  he  was  never 
able  to  taste  any  of  the  delicacies  himself.  Only  a 
little  while  before  his  death  he  gave  a  lavish  enter- 
tainment to  the  Princess  of  Wales  on  board  his  pala- 
tial yacht.  The  banquet  was  spread  in  the  saloon ; 
the  table  was  a  mass  of  glittering  plate,  rare  flowers, 
and  exquisite  china.  Servants  were  bustling  here  and 
there,  putting  the  final  touches  to  the  sumptuous 
board,  when  suddenly  there  tottered  feebly  into  the 
saloon  the  wraith  of  the  master  of  all  this  opulence 
and  luxury.  He  surveyed  the  table  with  his  pathetic 
eyes,  and  feebly  asked :  "  What  is  all  this  fuss 
about?  "  Thus  it  was  that  Ogden  Goelet,  one  of  the 
richest  men  in  the  United  States,  a  man  who  supped 
with  princes  and  who  was  able  to  give  feasts  as  splen- 
did as  any  king,  actually  died  from  starvation.  Alas ! 
there  are  many  dying  from  starvation  of  the  higher 


284  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

and  better  nature;  many  whose  spiritual  faculties 
have  been  so  dwarfed  and  debauched  that  they  seem 
to  have  no  power  left  to  digest  love  and  hope  and 
faith,  but  whose  souls  are  starving.  Jesus  never  said 
anything  more  clearly  true  than  this  :  "  Blessed  are 
they  which  do  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness, 
for  they  shall  be  filled. " 

DO  NOT  DALLY  WITH  LITTLE  SINS. 

A  cigarette  is  a  little  thing,  a  little  bit  of  rice  paper 
containing  a  fragment  of  tobacco  that  a  man  could 
blow  away  with  his  breath ;  but  a  young  man  tried  to 
do  murder  the  other  day  because  his  appetite  for  fill- 
ing his  lungs  with  nicotine  poison  in  the  manner  which 
fascinates  cigarette-smokers  had  taken  complete  pos- 
session of  him,  physically  and  mentally,  and  to  satisfy 
that  craving  was  his  constant,  eager,  unceasing  de- 
sire— a  desire  which  finally  overmastered  every  other 
sense  and  emotion.  He  went  into  a  store  in  Jersey 
City  and  asked  the  woman  in  charge  to  let  him  have 
some  cigarettes,  admitting  that  he  had  no  money.  He 
was  refused.  He  begged  and  pleaded  for  just  one, 
but  was  again  refused.  This  seemed  to  upset  him 
mentally,  and  in  a  struggle  to  get  what  he  wanted  he 
came  near  killing  the  young  son  of  the  woman  who 
had  refused  him.  Think  of  a  strong,  bright  young 
man  utterly  mastered  and  made  a  slave  by  a  little 
cigarette !  Let  no  one  dally  with  little  sins ;  they  are 
poison  in  the  blood,  and  all  the  fair  young  life  may  go 
down  before  them. 


STRENGTH  AND  GENTLENESS.  285 

LIFE  OUT  OF  DEATH. 

There  is  a  tree  on  Bay  Farm  Island,  not  far  from 
San  Francisco,  into  which  a  man  has  grown.  The 
tree  apparently  has  absorbed  the  brain  of  the  man  into 
its  sap-veins,  and  the  man  who  made  the  discovery 
now  regards  the  tree  with  awe,  as  if  it  wero  partly 
human.  It  is  evidently  the  skull  of  an  Indian,  and 
the  tree  has  grown  up  through  it.  Up  in  the  New 
Hampshire  woods  last  summer  I  saw  a  splendid  young 
birch  growing  right  up  out  of  the  center  of  the  stump 
of  a  large  spruce-tree.  I  suppose  some  bird  had 
dropped  the  seed  in  the  stump  after  it  became  rotten, 
and  the  birch  had  run  its  roots  down  through  the  cen- 
ter of  the  old  tree  foundation.  Part  of  the  stump  is 
now  falling  away,  but  the  birch  is  luxuriating  in  the 
death  of  its  benefactor.  Thus  it  is  that  life  comes 
out  of  death.  In  the  heart  of  the  old  superstitions 
and  pagan  religions,  Jesus  Christ  plants  the  seed  of 
the  better  hope  and  the  larger  life ;  and  in  China  and 
India  and  Japan  already  vigorous  young  shoots  of  the 
nobler  faith  are  springing  up  on  the  dying  stumps  of 
these  failing  religions. 

STRENGTH  AND  GENTLENESS. 

In  the  Ninety -first  Psalm  there  is  something  splen- 
did in  the  way  the  singer  mingles  his  thought  of  God's 
majesty  and  power  and  strength  to  defend  and  protect 
those  who  trust  him  with  the  other  thought  of  the 
graciousness  and  gentleness  of  the  Divine  love.     One 


286  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

moment  his  thought  is  on  the  fortress  with  its  great 
stone  walls,  and  sentinels  standing  at  every  corner, 
and  soldiers  with  bow  and  arrow,  or  huge  stone  or 
javelin,  with  which  to  face  all  comers.  Listen  and 
see  the  fort  rise  before  your  eyes :  "I  will  say  of  the 
Lord,  he  is  my  refuge,  and  my  fortress:  my  God;  in 
him  will  T  trust.  Surely  he  shall  deliver  thee  from 
the  snare  of  the  fowler. "  And  then,  quick  as  thought, 
the  psalmist  turns  from  the  majesty  and  power  of  God 
and  thinks  of  his  gentleness  of  heart,  thinks  of  the 
caress  of  the  Spirit,  softer  than  a  mother's  kiss,  and 
he  bursts  forth  in  thankful  praise  and  confidence; 
"  He  shall  cover  thee  with  his  feathers,  and  under 
his  wings  shalt  thou  trust."  In  our  thought  God's 
power  and  his  gentleness  ought  always  to  go  together. 
In  our  own  lives,  too,  gentleness  should  always  keep 
pace  with  strength. 

THE  DEBTS  OF  SIN. 

A  young  man  came  to  me  with  a  strange  question. 
He  had  recently  been  converted,  and  for  a  number  of 
weeks  had  been  leading  a  most  exemplary  Christian 
life.  Before  he  became  a  Christian  he  was  a  slave  to 
strong  drink,  and  the  question  which  he  put  to  me 
was  this  ;  "  What  shall  I  do  with  the  debts  which  I 
owe  to  saloon-keepers?  I  owe  accounts  at  three  sa- 
loons where  I  was  trusted  for  liquor  before  my  con- 
version." My  answer  without  hesitation  was :  "Pay 
them,  by  all  means."  While  this  man  ought  never  to 
have  gone  near  the  saloon,  yet  the  only  honest  way  for 


RUNNING  INTO  DANGER.  287 

him  to  proceed  now  is  to  carefully  save  up  his  money 
and  pay  off  these  rum  debts  of  sinfulness.  There  is 
many  an  afterclap  to  sin.  It  leaves  many  a  scar  that 
long  years  will  not  wear  out.  If  those  who  are  dally- 
ing and  playing  with  it  could  only  see  what  a  long  arm 
it  has,  they  would  stop  their  recklessness  at  once. 

THE  BETTER  DAY  THAT  IS  COMING. 

The  Christian's  hope  for  the  overthrow  of  war  and 
selfishness  in  the  earth  and  the  coming  triumph  of  the 
Christ-spirit  is  beautifully  set  forth  by  the  English 
poet,  Lewis  Morris : 

"  There  shall  come  out  of  this  noise  of  strife  and  groaning 

A  broader  and  a  juster  brotherhood, 
A  deep  equality  of  aim,  postponing 

All  selfish  seeking  to  the  general  good. 
There  shall  come  a  time  when  each  shall  to  another 
Be  as  Chrfst  would  have  him— brother  unto  brother.  " 

RUNNING   INTO    DANGER  FOR  ANOTHER'S 
SAFETY. 

In  Burlington,  N.  J.,  young  Albert  Alexander  was 
standing  beside  his  wheel  in  the  street,  among  a  crowd 
of  companions,  when  a  mad  dog,  snapping  and  snarl- 
ing and  frothing  at  the  mouth,  came  loping  along  from 
a  side  street.  The  sidewalks  were  filled  with  women 
and  children,  and  young  Alexander  realized  in  a  mo- 
ment their  danger,  and,  mounting  hurriedly,  dashed 
up  the  street,  crying  out  a  warning  as  he  rode.  Peo- 
ple scattered  in  every  direction,   seeking  refuge  in 


288  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

doorways  and  behind  convenient  gates.  As  the  in- 
trepid wheelman  came  abreast  of  the  beast  the  mad- 
dened animal  turned  its  attention  to  him.  It  snapped 
at  his  spinning  wheels.  The  glaring  white  teeth 
caught  the  spokes,  and  man  and  dog  rolled  in  a  heap 
together.  Alexander  was  the  first  to  recover,  and  ran, 
not  to  the  nearest  refuge,  but  began  leading  the  mad 
dog  away  from  the  throng.  The  frightened  people 
screamed  their  applause  as  they  saw  his  purpose. 
The  slightest  accident  would  have  placed  the  brave 
young  man  in  the  power  of  his  mad  pursuer.  He 
kept  out  of  harm's  way,  however,  until  a  well-directed 
bullet  from  the  pistol  of  a  policeman  ended  the  ani- 
mal's life.  This  was  a  heroic  deed,  and  no  wonder 
his  fellow  townsmen  wish  to  honor  Alexander  with  a 
public  testimonial.  Yet  how  faint  an  illustration  all 
such  deeds  are  of  the  self-sacrifice  and  heroism  of  Him 
who  left  the  glory  of  heaven  and  came  down  to  earth 
and  fought  to  the  death  the  wild  beasts  of  sin  that  he 
might  save  us ! 

BRINGING  OUR  TREASURES  INTO  SERVICE. 

President  Hill,  of  the  Great  Northern  Railroad,  is 
a  great  admirer  of  beautiful  furs.  He  is  a  connoisseur 
of  fine  skins,  and  keeps  a  great  box  in  his  home  in  St. 
Paul,  Minn.,  in  which  is  stored  a  large  quantity  of 
beautiful  sable-skins.  Once  when  he  was  away  from 
home  Mrs.  Hill  opened  the  sacred  box,  and,  choosing 
some  of  the  most  beautiful  skins,  had  them  made  into 
a  lining  for  a  greatcoat  for  her  husband.     On  his  re- 


OUTGROWING  ONE'S  SHELL.  289 

turn  she  showed  it  to  him.  "  But  you  have  denuded  my 
box,"  he  cried,  "and  greatly  lessened  my  treasures." 
Mrs.  Hill,  however,  insisted  that  the  furs  had  simply 
been  put  to  their  proper  use.  She  claimed  that  it  was 
degrading  to  a  sable-skin  to  lie  forever  wrapped  up  in 
camphor  to  keep  itself  away  from  the  moths.  The 
wife  was  right.  There  are  a  good  many  people  who 
try  to  treasure  up  their  virtues  in  the  same  way.  In- 
stead of  putting  them  into  a  coat  to  work  in  in  every- 
day life,  they  endeavor  to  preserve  them  by  hiding 
them  away  out  of  sight.  The  best  way  to  keep  purity 
is  to  put  it  into  the  hottest  place  on  the  battle-line  in 
antagonism  to  vice. 

OUTGROWING  ONE'S  SHELL. 

When  the  decorator-crab  gets  too  big  for  its  shell, 
it  does  what'many  other  shellfish  do,  sheds  it;  emerg- 
ing with  its  new  shell  already  formed,  but,  at  that 
stage  of  its  growth,  pliable  and  not  much  thicker  than 
paper.  In  its  soft-shell  state  it  is  comparatively  de- 
fenseless, and  it  keeps  out  of  the  way  of  other  shell- 
fish if  it  can ;  but  its  new  shell  soon  hardens,  and  then 
it  goes  about  in  its  accustomed  manner.  The  deco- 
rator increases  greatly,  perhaps  a  third  in  size,  almost 
immediately  after  leaving  its  old  shell,  which  it 
scarcely  seems  possible  it  could  ever  have  inhabited. 
Men  and  women  ought  to  grow  as  well  as  shellfish. 
Some  people  go  about  with  the  old  shells  of  prejudice 
on  their  backs  which  they  ought  long  since  to  have 
outgrown.  A  really  growing  soul,  looking  back,  can 
19 


290  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

see  many  a  place  along  the  way  where  they  have  cast 
the  outgrown  shells.  It  is  not  always  easy  work,  and 
is  sometimes  very  painful  and  dangerous.  All  growth 
is  painful,  but  it  is  better  to  endure  the  pain  of  grow- 
ing than  to  be  cramped  and  fettered  by  a  shell  which 
robs  life  of  its  boundless  horizon. 


RESTITUTION. 

A  man  living  in  Independence,  Mo.,  received  un- 
expectedly one  day  a  draft  for  nine  hundred  dollars. 
There  is  an  interesting  story  connected  with  the  money, 
which  comes  back  to  its  rightful  owner  after  a  lapse 
of  thirty-two  years.  During  the  war  this  man  buried 
a  sum  of  money  in  gold  under  his  barn.  His  place 
was  shortly  afterward  overrun  with  soldiers,  and  when 
he  went  to  get  his  money  it  was  gone.  It  was  sup- 
posed that  it  had  been  found  and  carried  away  by  the 
soldiers,  but  now  it  transpires  that  one  of  his  neigh- 
bors got  the  money.  He  divided  it  with  another 
neighbor.  The  man  who  found  and  appropriated  the 
coin  died  twenty-eight  years  ago,  but  the  man  with 
whom  he  divided  lived  and  prospered.  Some  time 
ago,  being  in  ill  health,  he  confessed  to  a  priest  his 
part  in  the  transaction,  and  by  the  counsel  of  his  spir- 
itual adviser  at  once  took  steps  to  make  restitution. 
The  draft  for  nine  hundred  dollars  covered  the  origi- 
nal amount  and  interest.  It  may  be  well  doubted  if 
the  doctrine  of  restitution  is  preached  as  often  and  as 
thoroughly  as  it  should  be.  It  is  surely  our  duty  to 
right  our  own  wrong-doing  as  far  as  we  are  able.     A 


EARS  TO  HEAR.  291 

man  may  well  doubt  the  genuineness  of  his  conversion 
if  it  does  not  lead  him  to  have  the  feeling  of  Zaccheus, 
when  he  declared  to  the  Lord  that  for  every  dollar  he 
had  taken  wrongfully  from  any  man  he  would  pay 
back  fourfold. 

PLAYING  WITH  PEARLS. 

A  man  living  near  Murphy  Lake,  Ark.,  in  the  sec- 
tion where  rich  pearl  discoveries  have  been  made,  re- 
lates that  his  children  have  for  many  years  been  dig- 
ging mussels  for  fishbait  and  have  often  found  "  pretty 
rocks  "  inside  the  shells  and  used  them  for  marbles. 
Think  of  the  irony  of  circumstances  portrayed  in 
a  little  band  of  Arkansas  children,  barefooted,  and 
scrimped  for  everything  except  the  bare  necessities  of 
life,  playing  with  a  little  fortune  in  their  bag  of  pearls 
used  as  marbles;  but,  alas!  they  are  not  the  only 
ignorant  and  foolish  souls  that  are  playing  with  pearls 
not  knowing  their  worth.  Many  a  youth  treats  lightly 
the  pearl  of  his  innocence,  that  after  a  while  it  would 
be  as  impossible  for  him  to  get  back  as  for  Esau  to 
regain  his  birthright  after  he  had  squandered  it  for  a 
mess  of  pottage. 

EARS  TO  HEAR. 

John  Burroughs  relates  that  a  number  of  years  ago 
a  friend  in  England  sent  him  a  score  of  skjdarks  in 
a  cage.  He  gave  them  their  liberty  in  a  field  near 
where  he  lived.  They  drifted  away,  and  he  never 
heard  them  or  saw  them  again.     But  one  Sunday  a 


292  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

Scotclimaii  from  a  neighboring  city  called  upon  him, 
and  declared  with  visible  excitement  that  on  his  way 
along  the  road  he  had  heard  a  skylark.  He  was  not 
dreaming ;  he  knew  it  was  a  skylark,  tho  he  had  not 
heard  one  since  he  had  left  the  banks  of  the  Doon, 
a  quarter  of  a  century  or  more  before.  The  song  had 
given  him  infinitely  more  pleasure  than  it  would  have 
given  to  the  naturalist  himself.  Many  years  ago  some 
skylarks  were  liberated  on  Long  Island,  and  they  be- 
came established  there,  and  may  now  occasionally  be 
heard  in  certain  localities.  One  summer  day  a  lover 
of  birds  journeyed  out  from  the  city  in  order  to  ob- 
serve them.  A  lark  was  soaring  and  singing  in  the 
sky  above  him.  An  old  Irishman  came  along  and 
suddenly  stopped  as  if  transfixed  to  the  spot.  A  look 
of  mingled  delight  and  incredulity  came  into  his  face. 
Was  he  indeed  hearing  the  bird  of  his  youth?  He 
took  off  his  hat,  turned  his  face  skyward,  and  with 
moving  lips  and  streaming  eyes  stood  a  long  time  re- 
garding the  bird.  "Ah,"  thought  the  student  of 
nature,  "  if  I  could  only  hear  that  song  with  his  ears !  " 
To  the  man  of  science  it  was  only  a  bird-song  to  be 
critically  compared  with  a  score  of  others,  but  to  the 
other  it  brought  back  his  youth  and  all  those  long- 
gone  days  on  his  native  hills!  There  is  the  same 
difference  between  the  man  who  studies  the  Bible  in 
a  spirit  of  philosophical  learning,  and  the  one  who 
hears  in  it  songs  of  heaven  and  eternal  life ;  the  atti- 
tude of  the  one  is  cold  and  critical,  the  other  finds  his 
heart  melted  and  flowing  out  in  love  as  he  listens  to 
the  divine  melody. 


THE  VALUE  OF  LIGHT.  293 

THE  VALUE  OF  LIGHT. 

'^  Many  of  my  best  and  most  valuable  and  most 
merchantable  thoughts, "  said  a  man  who  writes  things 
for  a  living,  "  come  to  me  after  I  have  gone  to  bed  at 
night.  That  is  usually  my  time  for  building  castles 
in  the  air,  and  in  this  joyous  mental  atmosphere  I 
often  have  happy  ideas  that  can  be  worked  up  and 
turned  to  account.  Formerly,  before  I  went  to  bed  I 
used  to  put  my  idea-pad,  with  a  pencil  by  it,  on  a 
shelf  in  the  adjoining  room  near  a  gas-jet,  left  burn- 
ing low,  as  I  didn't  want  a  light  in  my  sleeping-room. 
When  an  idea  struck  me,  I  would  get  out  of  bed,  go 
into  the  next  room,  turn  up  the  light,  make  a  note  of 
it,  and  go  back  to  bed.  But  I  didn't  always  do  this. 
If  it  was  a  very  cold  night  or  I  was  very  tired,  I  would 
say  to  myself  that  I  thought  I  could  remember  that, 
and  so  I  would  take  the  chances,  and  then  every  time 
I  would  forget  it.  But.  now  I  have  a  little  table  at 
the  head  of  the  bed  with  the  pad  and  pencil  on  that, 
and  hanging  down  over  it  an  incandescent  electric 
light.  I  don't  have  to  get  out  of  bed  at  all.  I  have 
only  to  turn  the  key  of  the  shaded  light,  pick  up  the 
pad,  and  jot  down  the  idea.  Then  I  put  the  pad 
down  on  the  table  again  and  turn  off  the  light.  Now 
I  lose  nothing.  I  saved  enough  the  first  week  to  pay 
for  putting  in  the  light,  and  everything  that  I  save  in 
this  way  is  so  much  clear  profit."  Light  is  the  most 
valuable  thing  in  the  world.  It  is  better  to  economize 
anywhere  else  than  on  light.  Economy  there  is  always 
extravagance.     Light  is  the  best  policeman  in  the 


294  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

world  for  a  city,  and  always  the  best  investment  for 
an  individual.  The  highest  grade  of  light  is  spiritual 
light.  Christ  is  the  Light  of  the  world,  and  if  we 
follow  Him  we  shall  live  with  illuminated  souls  and 
never  walk  in  darkness. 


THE  "DON'T  WORRY"  SOCIETY. 

Among  the  many  societies  in  New  York  City  is  one 
started  by  Mr.  Theodore  F.  Seward,  which  is  known 
as  the  "  Don't  Worry  "  movement.  There  is  plenty  of 
room  for  such  a  society  in  every  community.  Christ 
intended  the  church  to  be  that  society.  Worry  is  in- 
separable from  a  sinful  or  a  faithless  soul.  If  we 
believe  in  God  and  are  sure  we  are  at  peace  with  him, 
then  we  can  live  without  worry  and  can  utter  the  lan- 
guage of  Isaiah :  "  Behold,  God  is  my  salvation ;  I 
will  trust,  and  not  be  afraid :  for  the  Lord  Jehovah  is 
my  strength  and  my  song." 

A  SOUL  ON  HRE. 

The  Santa  Fe  Kailroad  people  set  a  mountain  on 
fire  in  Arizona  and  found  themselves  in  the  most  per- 
plexing situation  that  any  railroad  company  has  ever 
faced.  The  tunnel  through  the  mountain  at  Johnson's 
Canon,  near  Williams,  in  Arizona,  caught  fire,  and 
naturally  water  was  used  in  putting  out  the  fire. 
They  thought  they  had  extinguished  it  and  had  com- 
pleted putting  in  new  woodwork,  when  suddenly  they 
found  it  all  ablaze.     Investigation  showed  that  the 


FRESH  GOLD.  295 

second  fire  was  a  case  of  spontaneous  combustion.  In 
short,  the  tunnel  has  become  nothing  but  a  flue  for  an 
immense  lime-kiln,  the  largest,  perhaps,  that  the  world 
has  ever  known,  for  it  is  really  a  mountain  that  is 
being  burnt.  The  geological  formation  of  the  moun- 
tain, through  which  the  tunnel  passes,  is  chiefly  lime- 
stone of  a  high  degree  of  purity.  The  lime  is  j)art  of 
a  series  of  strata,  lime,  lava,  and  volcanic  ashes  suc- 
ceeding each  other.  The  water  which  was  used  to 
extinguish  the  burning  woodwork  in  the  tunnel  re- 
sulted in  starting  the  lime  of  the  mountain  to  slack- 
ing. The  lime  as  it  is  slacked  is  dissolved  into  gas, 
liquid,  and  ash,  which,  falling  out  of  place,  releases 
the  adjoining  strata  of  volcanic  ash  and  lava.  These 
fall  down,  catch  fire,  and  add  to  the  conflagration. 
This  mountain  thus  set  on  fire,  and  forever  feeding  its 
fires  from  the  inflammable  material  within,  reminds 
one  of  the  Bible  description  of  a  sinful  soul,  where  it 
is  said  that  it  is  "set  on  fire  of  hell."  Every  sin- 
ner carries  in  his  own  heart  the  materials  for  a  confla- 
gration, the  flames  of  which  may  never  be  quenched. 

FRESH  GOLD. 

The  richest  man  in  the  Klondike  is  said  to  be  a 
brawny  Scotchman,  known  as  "  Big  Aleck  "  MacDon- 
ald.  He  managed  to  make  a  large  clean-up  on  one  of 
the  first  claims  staked  out  in  the  region,  and  invested 
every  dollar  of  it  in  other  claims.  He  paid  part 
down  on  these  new  claims,  promising  the  rest  when 
the  water  came  in  the  spring.     Every  one  about  the 


296  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

camp  knew  of  MacDonald's  speculations,  and  all  won- 
dered whether  he  would  become  a  bankrupt  or  a  mil- 
lionaire. The  water  did  not  come  down  early  in  1897, 
and  in  some  instances  the  clean-ups  on  the  claims  he 
had  bought  on  speculation  came  so  close  to  the  day  of 
payment  that  the  gold  was  paid  over  wet  from  the 
pan  before  it  had  time  to  dry.  Our  study  of  God's 
word,  and  our  worship,  ought  to  be  of  that  sort.  We 
ought  to  be  finding  the  fresh  gold  all  the  time  and  be 
giving  it  back  to  the  Lord  in  love  and  thanksgiving 
and  service  before  it  has  time  to  get  dry.  The  preach- 
er, the  Sunday-school  superintendent  and  teac'er 
may  also  get  a  lessoii  from  the  experience  of  Big 
Aleck.  It  is  the  fresh  gold  wet  from  the  pan  that 
will  never  lack  appreciative  attention. 

THE  SKULKING  CHARACTER  OF  SIN, 

A  man  who  has  been  in  Africa  hunting  lions  gives 
an  account  of  his  first  lion  and  of  the  terrible  disap- 
pointment the  experience  was  to  him.  They  had 
been  following  the  beast  for  several  miles  until  the 
track  led  them  into  a  thicket  of  thorn-bushes  and 
shriveled  shrubs,  and  the  head  hunter  sent  in  the  dogs 
to  rout  out  the  game.  The  sportsmen  remained  out- 
side, some  hundred  yards  apart.  No  sound  came  from 
the  bush,  and  he  was  beginning  to  think  the  natives 
had  made  a  mistake,  when  his  eye  caught  something 
moving  on  the  outskirts  of  the  thicket.  It  crept  fur- 
tively along,  still  half  screened  by  the  trees,  then 
stopped,  and  raised  its  head  as  the  yelping  of  a  dog 


IN  THE  CLUTCHES  OF  THE  TEMPTER.     297 

came  through  the  bush.  That  seemed  to  decide  it, 
for  without  more  ado  it  came  out  into  the  open,  sham- 
bling quickly  along,  with  head  down,  and  so  gave  him 
his  first  glimpse  of  a  wild  lion.  The  sight  was  im- 
mensely disappointing.  There  was  nothing  majestic 
about  him.  That  skulking  beast,  gray -yellow  in  hue, 
almost  maneless,  stealing  shamefacedly  along  like  an 
unwieldy  cat — was  that  the  monarch  of  the  forest? 
The  average  lion  of  the  menagerie  has  twice  his  gran- 
deur and  three  times  his  growth  of  mane;  such,  the 
hunter  meditated,  is  the  effect  of  regular  and  gener- 
ous feeding.  Sin  is  always  a  skulking,  vicious  thing. 
The  devil  often  deludes  the  young  into  viewing  a  sin- 
ful life  as  full  of  something  fascinating  and  heroic, 
but  sin  has  been  a  skulker  and  a  vagabond  from  the 
beginning. 

IN  THE  CLUTCHES  OF  THE  TEMPTER. 

A  Delaware  farmer  was  out  in  the  marshes  looking 
for  ducks,  when  he  saw  a  large  hole  in  the  ground, 
and,  seizing  a  long  pole,  he  thrust  it  into  it.  In- 
stantly the  earth  beneath  him  caved  in,  and  before  he 
realized  what  had  happened  he  was  in  a  den  of  squirm- 
ing snakes.  There  were  hundreds  of  the  slimy  rep- 
tiles, and  they  began  attacking  him  from  every  direc- 
tion. They  coiled  about  his  legs  until  he  was  himself 
a  wriggling  mass  of  serpents.  The  only  weapon  he 
had  in  his  hand  was  a  gun.  He  was  unable  success- 
fully to  combat  the  snakes  with  the  weapon,  aud  his 
cries  for  help  soon  brought  a  number  of  his  companions 


298  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

to  his  assistance.  They  threw  him  a  rope,  and  he 
clung  to  it,  while  they  hauled  him  from  his  perilous 
situation.  He  was  half-unconscious  when  landed 
from  the  reptile  den  and  had  been  bitten  in  several 
places.  Many  a  man  we  meet  on  the  street,  and  many 
another  who  lives  in  the  same  block  with  us,  it  may 
be,  is  in  a  den  of  temptation  as  perilous  as  that. 
Every  disciple  of  Christ  should  be  ready  to  throw  a 
rope  of  salvation  to  those  who  are  beset  by  the  serpen- 
tine temptations  of  sin. 

HEREDITARY  CRIME. 

The  Chief  of  Police  of  New  York  City  speaks  of  one 
precinct  in  that  city  as  the  social  plague-spot  of  the 
city.  Arrests  in  that  great,  teeming  nest  of  vice  and 
crime  average  11,900  annually.  The  chief  gives  it  as 
his  opinion  that  all  the  industrious  and  respectable 
families,  whose  labor  will  admit  of  their  removal,  will, 
sooner  or  later,  find  homes  in  the  suburban  part  of  the 
metropolis.  The  criminal  classes,  however,  will  stick 
to  their  old  environments  like  barnacles  to  the  native 
rock,  and  will  never  go  until  they  are  driven  out.  In 
the  neighborhood  of  Catharine  Market,  and  in  the  old 
Gouverneur  regions,  generations  of  criminals  have  suc- 
ceeded each  other.  Mothers  have  borne  sons  whom 
they  knew  would  be  hanged  or  pass  their  lives  in  pri- 
son. What  is  needed  above  everything  else,  for  the 
salvation  of  modern  cities,  is  to  break  up  that  deadly 
line  of  hereditary  crime.  But  it  never  can  be  done 
without  down-town  churches,  backed  with  abundant 


THE  FATE  OF  SELFISHNESS.  299 

meaus,  not  to  distribute  old  clothes  or  cheap  soup, 
but  to  preach  the  old-fashioned  Gospel  which  Paul 
preached  in  Ephesus  in  the  spirit  that  turns  the  world 
upside  down. 

THE  FATE  OF  SELFISHNESS. 

A  party  of  sportsmen  went  to  an  island  off  the 
Georgia  coast  for  a  week's  hunt.  After  being  there 
several  days  they  started  up  the  coast  in  an  open, 
sloop-rigged  boat.  Just  before  nightfall  there  sud- 
denly arose  a  violent  squall,  which  rendered  the  boat 
unmanageable,  and  carried  them  twenty-five  miles  out 
to  sea,  damaging  the  boat  to  some  extent,  and  dis- 
abling her.  The  seas  were  running  mountain  high, 
and  the  frail  craft  tossed  about  from  wave  to  wave, 
threatening  every  moment  to  capsize  and  consign  its 
helpless  'occupants  to  a  watery  grave.  One  of  the 
men,  believing  that  the  boat  would  soon  go  down,  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  taking  a  beer-keg,  which  was  the 
only  thing  they  had  that  would  keep  one  afloat,  and 
trying  to  save  himself  by  deserting  the  rest  of  the 
party.  Watching  his  chance,  he  seized  the  keg  and 
jumped  overboard.  He  was,  of  course,  soon  sepa- 
rated from  the  boat.  All  through  the  darkness  of 
that  night  he  drifted,  with  no  knowledge  of  the  direc- 
tion in  which  he  was  going.  Buffeted  by  the  waves 
and  chilled  by  the  icy  winds,  he  clung  to  the  keg  as 
his  sole  hope  of  life.  After  spending  an  awful  night, 
he  drifted  to  the  shore  the  next  day,  more  dead  than 
alive.     In  the  mean  time,  the  remainder  of  the  party 


300  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

stuck  to  the  boat,  and,  re-rigging  the  sails,  managed 
to  reach  shore  about  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening. 
Selfishness  is  always  bad  as  a  policy  as  well  as  bad  as 
a  principle.  God  has  so  made  the  world  that  in  self- 
forgetfulness  rather  than  in  self -carefulness  there  is 
the  truest  safety. 

THE  DESPOILING  HAND  OF  GREED. 

The  United  States  Land  Commissioner  is  recom- 
mending that  a  forest  reserve  be  made  out  of  the  won- 
derful petrified  forest  of  Arizona.  This  forest  is  one 
of  the  greatest  natural  curiosities  of  the  world ;  whole 
trunks  of  trees  and  stumps  with  portions  of  the  root 
are  found  there,  converted  into  stone  as  dense  and 
hard  as  the  finest  agate.  Every  cell  and  every  fiber 
of  the  former  wood  are  preserved  in  stone.  A  forest 
of  trees  appears  to  have  been  entombed  in  the  rocks 
and  to  have  been  preserved  by  a  slow  process  of  re- 
placement by  silica  from  solutions  permeating  the  bed. 
Subsequently  the  surrounding  sediments  were  washed 
away,  but  the  enduring  fossils  of  the  trees  remained. 
No  other  country  in  the  world,  it  is  claimed,  can  send 
to  the  lapidary  such  magnificent  raw  material  of  this 
nature  as  the  petrified  forests  of  Arizona  alford.  Not 
even  Eussia,  with  its  wealth  of  jasper  and  massive 
malachite,  and  other  superb  ornamental  stones,  can 
rival  the  beauty  of  the  agatized  wood  of  Arizona. 
But  all  these  beautiful  treasures  are  being  rapidly  de- 
spoiled for  commercial  purposes,  and  the  commis- 
sioner declares  that  unless  steps  are  taken  at  once  this 


CHRISTIAN  FELLOWSHIP.  301 

wonder  world  will  be  sacrificed  to  greed.  That  is  like 
greed  always.  There  is  nothing  so  beautiful,  nothing 
so  sacred,  that  it  will  not  lay  its  despoiling  hand  upon 
it  and  coin  it  into  money,  in  the  spirit  of  Judas  when 
he  sold  his  Master  for  thirty  pieces  of  silver. 

STRENGTH  IN  CHRISTIAN  FELLOWSHIP. 

In  some  parts  of  India  the  natives  have  an  interest- 
ing way  of  capturing  large  snakes.  They  will  start  a 
fire  in  a  jungle  which  will  drive  the  snakes  by  the 
hundred  toward  a  trap  with  wide-reaching  wings  of 
netting.  After  the  snakes  are  enclosed  in  the  netting 
the  superintendent  points  out  an  anaconda  that  will 
bring  a  good  price,  and  as  the  animal  thrusts  its  head 
against  the  netting  in  fruitless  efforts  to  escape,  a 
stick  with  a  wire  loop  at  the  end  is  introduced,  the 
snake  is  lassoed  immediately  back  of  the  head,  the 
wire  is  tightened,  and  the  future  occupant  of  a  menag- 
erie cage,  hissing  and  writhing,  is  dragged  out  and 
seized  by  a  dozen  natives  at  once.  Bundles  of  bam- 
boo cut  into  proper  lengths  have  already  been  prepared. 
Three  or  four  men  straighten  the  snake,  and  lay  him 
on  a  bamboo,  placing  three  or  four  smaller  splints 
around  him,  and  then  lash  him  securely  down  with 
bamboo  withes  every  inch  of  his  entire  length.  Gen- 
erally the  lashing  is  found  to  be  sufficient,  and  only 
when  the  serpent  is  very  large  and  powerful  are  the 
extra  bamboos  tied  around  him  for  fear  he  might  break 
the  stick  to  which  he  is  fastened.  This  operation  is 
not  carried  on  without  much  protest  from  the  snake ; 


302  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

but  the  men  are  in  such  large  force  that  hissing  and 
wriggling  are  all  in  vain.  His  captors  not  only  lash 
him  down,  but  finish  the  operation  by  forcing  his  up- 
per jaw  upon  the  lower,  and  tying  the  two  together  to 
the  stick  in  such  a  way  that  he  can  not  even  hiss. 
That  is  the  right  way  for  a  church  to  fight  that  old 
serpent,  the  devil.  In  a  union  of  Christian  fellowship 
the  weakest  gain  all  the  faith  and  strength  of  the 
many.  The  old  serpent  never  can  hold  out  against  a 
united  and  aggressive  church.  He  likes  to  pick  off 
stragglers,  one  at  a  time. 

THE  POWER  OF  HABIT. 

A  fireman  had  his  right  ankle  broken,  and  was  taken 
to  the  hospital,  where  his  foot  was  done  up  in  plaster 
of  Paris.  In  one  of  the  corridors  of  the  hospital  is  a 
bell  on  which  are  sounded  all  the  fire-alarms  rung  in 
the  city,  so  that  the  hospital  authorities  may  be  able 
to  make  preparation  to  care  for  the  injured  in  case  of 
a  bad  fire.  This  bell  is  just  outside  the  ward  in  which 
the  injured  fireman  was  placed.  He  dozed  off  early 
one  evening,  and  was  sleeping  as  soundly  as  a  fireman 
can  at  nine  o'clock.  About  that  time  there  was  an 
alarm  of  fire  from  one  of  the  boxes  calling  his  com- 
pany. The  first  stroke  of  the  bell  aroused  him,  and 
before  the  second  one  sounded  he  had  jumped  out  of 
bed,  and,  with  his  eyes  only  half  open,  was  searching 
for  the  rod  on  which  firemen  slide  to  the  lower  floors. 
He  walked  around  on  his  injured  ankle  until  his  hands 
touched  the  iron  post  of  his  cot.     He  threw  his  arms 


THE  DIVINE  WISDOM.  303 

around  the  post  and  tried  his  best  to  wrap  his  legs 
around  it  too.  He  fell  to  the  floor  and  the  bones  of 
his  ankle  were  broken  again.  What  an  illustration 
of  the  power  of  habit !  The  thing  that  a  man  becomes 
accustomed  to  doing  becomes  not  only  second,  but 
first,  nature  to  him.  And  this  is  as  true  of  good  hab- 
its as  of  evil. 

THE  DIVINE  WISDOM. 

It  comes  as  rather  a  startling  piece  of  news  that 
the  people  of  Florida  purpose  to  make  a  formal  appeal 
to  the  United  States  Fish  Commission  to  restock  their 
rivers  and  lakes  with  alligators.  It  seems  that  the 
demand  for  alligator  leather  for  manufacturing  pur- 
poses is  on  the  increase,  but  most  of  the  skins  used 
for  this  purpose  have  to  be  brought  from  South  and 
Central  America.  Florida  had  more  than  three  mil- 
lion alligators  in  1880,  but  to-day  she  has  not  one 
quarter  that  number,  and  they  are  all  young  fellows 
unfit  for  market.  The  alligator  hunters  have  de- 
stroyed the  great  saurians  at  such  a  rate  that  there  is 
scarcely  an  old  full-grown  alligator  to  be  found  in 
Florida  outside  of  the  great  everglades.  The  United 
States  Fish  Commission  has  been  looking  over  the 
field  and  has  made  visits  to  various  parts  of  the  State 
to  see  what  prospects  there  are  for  breeding  alligators 
artificially.  Thus  it  is  that  one  after  another  of  the 
things  which  men  find  in  the  earth  and  believe  to  be 
their  enemies,  as  they  near  destruction  prove  to  be 
their  friends,  and  to  have  been  given  them  by  the  in- 
finite wisdom  of  God. 


304  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

BITTER-SWEET. 

The  greatest  ingenuity  is  expended  nowadays  in 
making  confections  convey  secret  stores  of  many  kinds, 
some  of  which  may  be  dangerous  to  those  who  eat 
them.  Gum-drops  are  made  to  serve  the  place  of  a 
rouge-pot;  in  passing  between  the  portals  of  pearly 
teeth  they  rouge  the  lips  on  the  route  and  say  nothing 
to  any  one  about  it.  There  is  another  use  to  which  the 
harmless  little  bon-bon  is  being  put — that  of  carrying 
around  cologne  to  brighten  the  eyes.  It  is  said  to 
bring  tears  to  the  eyes  and  cause  velvet  orbs  to  swim 
in  moisture  that  adds  to  their  brilliancy ;  but  it  is  a 
dangerous  experiment,  and  is  certainly  not  nature's 
way  of  bringing  about  the  same  result.  Wine  and 
brandy  find  their  way  into  tempting  candies,  and  many 
an  elegant  young  lady  with  dove-like  eyes  comes  to 
have  a  tiger  thirst  for  intoxicants  before  any  one 
dreams  of  her  danger.  Sometimes  belladonna  is  car- 
ried about  in  them,  which  when  swallowed  makes  the 
eyes  grow  dark,  and  large  about  the  pupils.  And  so 
it  is  that  sin  is  always  seeking  to  find  its  way  in  on 
the  pretense  that  it  is  sweet  and  pleasurable;  but 
the  bitter  dregs  come  at  the  last.  The  devil  never 
fails  to  foreclose  on  his  mortgages. 

GIVE  THE  SONGSTERS  RIGHT  OF  WAY. 

The  wild  birds  had  been  so  crowded  out  of  London 
that  some  years  since  a  wild-birds'  charter  was  passed, 
and  since  then  great  care  has  been  taken  to  protect 


GREATEST  GOLDMINE  OF  ALL.  305 

them  from  harm.  The  result  is  already  very  promis- 
ing. Such  pretty,  shy  songsters  as  linnets,  thrushes, 
finches,  and  nightingales,  as  well  as  the  more  demo- 
cratic blackbirds,  are  coming  back  into  the  city  gar- 
dens and  streets.  Many  starlings  have  returned,  and 
house-martins  are  building  their  nests  again  under  the 
eaves  of  the  city  houses.  Many  people  become  so 
worldly  that  their  minds  and  hearts  are  like  city 
streets,  where  everything  that  does  not  bring  in  gold 
or  worldly  success  is  hunted  to  death.  It  is  a  glori- 
ous day  for  such  people  when  they  come  to  realize 
their  barrenness  and  to  protect  again  the  sweet  sing- 
ing birds  of  sympathy,  of  thoughtfulness  for  others, 
and  brotherly  fellowship.  These  songsters  of  the 
soul,  if  given  the  right  of  way  in  our  hearts,  will 
make  life  ever  fresh  and  spring-like  with  their  music. 

THE  GREATEST  GOLD-MINE  OF  ALL. 

The  richest  gold-mine  in  the  world  is  located  under 
the  thriving  town  of  Ballarat,  Victoria,  Australia. 
The  town  has  about  twenty-five  thousand  inhabitants, 
nearly  all  of  whom  are  employed  in  the  mines.  There 
are  more  than  one  hundred  miles  of  tunnels  under  the 
city,  some  of  them  being  at  a  depth  of  two  thousand 
feet.  The  region  around  Ballarat  has  been  dug  over 
several  times  by  miners.  The  rock  in  which  the  gold 
is  found  beneath  the  city  is  not  rich  in  the  yellow 
metal ;  it  yields  but  half  an  ounce  of  standard  gold  to 
the  ton ;  and  yet  this  one  mine  has  yielded  more  than 
two  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  dollars  since  it  was 
20 


306  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

opened  thirty  years  ago.  The  work  is  done  so  sys- 
tematically and  so  thoroughly  that  it  is  enormously 
profitable  in  spite  of  the  low  grade  of  the  ore.  The 
supply  of  pajang  quartz  seems  practically  inexhausti- 
ble, and  as  the  vein  is  extensive,  being  spread  over 
much  territory,  the  mine  bids  fair  to  last  for  centuries. 
The  Christian  church  ought  to  learn  a  lesson  from  that 
Ballarat  gold-mine.  The  greatest  mine  in  which  to 
save  souls  is  not  in  little  pockets  of  nuggets  among  the 
learned  or  the  rich,  but  the  great  vein  of  the  common 
people.  There  is  no  human  ore  so  poor  but  there  is 
gold  in  it  worth  saving,  and  which  we  can  save  under 
the  leadership  of  Christ. 

A  STRANDED  SHIP  AND  THE  PIRATES. 

The  American  bark  Marsion  S.  Harris  went  ashore 
on  a  coral  reef  near  Cape  St.  Koque,  and  became  a 
total  loss.  The  vessel  struck  a  reef  about  six  miles 
off-shore,  where  she  remained  hard  and  fast  with  the 
sea  breaking  over  her.  The  captain  launched  the  life- 
boat and  proceeded  to  Natal  in  search  of  assistance. 
During  his  absence  the  vessel  was  surrounded  by  a 
swarm  of  piratical  natives  from  the  coast.  The  crew 
with  great  difficulty  managed  for  a  time  to  keep  them 
from  boarding  and  looting  the  vessel,  but  were  finally 
compelled  to  desert  the  ship  and  cargo  to  its  fate. 
Many  men  have  found  life  like  that.  So  long  as  they 
kept  in  deep  water  with  plenty  of  sea-room  and  all 
sails  spread  they  were  safe  enough ;  but  when  they 
played  with  dangerous  and  unknown  channels,   and 


SONGS  IN  THE  NIGHT.  307 

became  at  last  stuck  on  some  reef  of  sin,  pirates  of 
savage  spirit  seemed  to  spring  up  out  of  the  sea  to 
threaten  them  with  pillage  and  disaster. 

FOOD  FOR  THE  MIND. 

When  the  late  Mr.  Gladstone  was  about  to  depart 
on  a  trip  to  France,  some  one  asked  him  if  he  did  not 
think  that  his  continual  reading  and  study  had  a  bad 
effect  on  his  nerves.  "  My  dear  sir, "  said  Mr.  Glad- 
stone, "  can  you  imagine  what  would  be  the  condition 
of  my  nerves  if  I  were  compelled  to  do  nothing?" 
The  intellectual  necessities  of  the  keen  and  cultivated 
mind  are  always  miracles  of  strangeness  to  the  igno- 
rant and  sluggish  brain.  A  congenial  occupation  for 
the  mind  is  not  only  one  of  the  greatest  sources  of 
health,  but  one  of  the  surest  aids  to  peace. 

SONGS  IN  THE  NIGHT. 

A  ship  which  arrived  in  New  York  from  Rio  de 
Janeiro  brought  in  the  captain's  cabin  a  pair  of  cana- 
ries from  Rangoon.  They  were  both  fine  singers,  the 
quality  as  well  as  the  range  of  their  notes  being  ex- 
traordinary ;  but  the  distinguishing  characteristic  of 
these  songsters  was  that  they  always  sang  at  night. 
The  Lord  has  many  canaries  like  that.  It  is  the  dis- 
tinguishing characteristic  of  the  genuine  Christian 
that,  like  Paul  and  Silas  in  the  dungeon  at  Philippi, 
he  is  able  to  sing  songs  of  hope  and  courage  and  vic- 
tory in  the  darkest  night  of  trial.     These  songs  in 


308  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. - 

the  night  are  the  most  effective  testimony  the  Chris- 
tian ever  gives  to  the  worth  of  his  Christianity. 


EXCHANGING  LOVE  FOR  FAME. 

A  pretty  little  romance  has  come  to  light  again, 
connecting  the  great  Lord  Nelson's  memory  with 
Canada.  During  his  service  at  Quebec,  in  1782,  when 
he  was  but  twenty -four  years  of  age,  he  became  in- 
fatuated with  a  Canadian  girl,  Mary  Simpson,  the 
beautiful  and  witty  daughter  of  a  noted  Canadian 
merchant  of  that  period.  On  October  14,  1782,  Lord 
Nelson's  ship,  the  Albemarle,  was  ready  to  sail,  and 
he  had  a  very  sad  and  tender  parting  with  Mary  Simp- 
son, and  went  down  the  St.  Lawrence  to  board  the 
man-of-war.  The  next  morning  arrived  and  the  Albe- 
marle did  not  heave  anchor,  and  Captain  Nelson  was 
seen  coming  back  to  Quebec  in  a  boat.  A  friend  of 
Nelson,  a  man  prominent  in  Quebec  at  the  time, 
espied  him,  and  asked  him  what  had  happened.  Nel- 
son is  quoted  as  having  said :  "  I  find  it  absolutely 
impossible  to  leave  this  place  without  again  waiting 
upon  her  whose  society  has  so  much  added  to  its 
charms,  and  laying  myself  and  my  fortune  at  her  feet." 
Nelson's  friend  protested  against  such  a  rash  act,  and 
told  him  that,  "  situated  as  you  are  at  present,  your 
utter  ruin  will  inevitably  follow."  "Then  let  it  fol- 
low," replied  Nelson  earnestly,  "for  I  am  resolved  to 
do  it. "  But  despite  his  intentions,  the  stronger  will 
of  his  friend  prevailed,  and  he  was  fairly  carried  back 
to  his  ship  and  forced  to  leave  behind  the  girl  he 


IN  THE  TOILS.  309 

loved.  It  was  many  years  before  he  gave  up  the  hope 
of  possessing  her ;  but  he  never  returned  to  Canada, 
and  Mary  Simpson  died  without  marrying.  Who  can 
say  that  he  acted  wisely?  Sure  we  are  that  in  ordi- 
nary observation  in  daily  life  no  man  is  so  badly 
cheated  as  the  one  who  trades  friendship  and  love  for 
money  or  fame. 

IN  THE  TOILS. 

A  brilliant  young  doctor  of  Union,  S.  C,  went  with 
a  physician  from  a  neighboring  town  to  Atlanta  to 
consult  with  the  physicians  there,  to  find,  if  possible, 
escape  from  the  dreadful  morphin  habit  into  which 
he  had  fallen.  Believing  that  there  was  no  hope  for 
him,  he  determined  to  take  his  own  life.  As  the  two 
physicians  were  sitting  in  their  hotel  room,  the  victim 
of  habit  said^to  his  friend  that  if  a  physician  intended 
to  commit  suicide  he  might  make  the  performance  of 
value  to  the  profession  by  doing  it  in  the  presence  of 
fellow  practitioners.  The  other  doctor  thought  noth- 
ing of  the  remark,  and  a  little  later  the  man  who  made 
it  retired.  He  had  been  in  bed  but  a  few  moments 
when  he  called  his  friend,  and  the  latter  saw  that  the 
bed-clothing  was  being  rapidly  stained  with  blood. 
Throwing  off  the  sheets,  he  found  that  the  doctor  with 
a  keen  pocket-knife  had  severed  veins  in  different 
parts  of  his  body.  The  injured  man  looked  up  at 
his  friend,  and  said:  "Now,  take  notes."  Then  he 
closed  his  eyes  and  passed  into  unconsciousness.  The 
doctor  did  not  take  notes,  but  vainly  struggled  to  save 
the  life  which  soon  ebbed  away.     The  man  who  thus 


310  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

took  his  own  life  was  a  physician  with  a  very  large 
practice,  and  possessed  of  a  fortune.  He  left  a  widow 
and  two  children.  He  began  the  use  of  morphin 
seven  years  ago,  and  the  suicide  was  prompted  because 
he  had  lost  hope  of  breaking  himself  of  the  habit. 
Alas,  the  fatal  power  of  an  evil  habit  is  illustrated  on 
every  hand !  No  man  should  tamper  or  dally  with  an 
evil  habit.  Stop  it  before  it  begins,  or,  if  already 
begun,  crush  it  out  at  once! 

A  DANGEROUS  RIDE. 

Two  miners  started  out  from  Cripple  Creek  for  Col- 
orado Springs  one  day  after  the  winter  began,  intend- 
ing to  climb  over  Pike's  Peak  and  then  walk  down 
the  cog-road  into  Manitou.  They  climbed  nearl}'^ 
to  the  summit,  but  as  they  did  not  know  the  trail, 
and  the  snow  was  deep,  they  wandered  away  from  it. 
They  climbed  finally  to  the  top  of  an  eminence  and 
were  discussing  the  best  way  to  proceed,  when  sud- 
denly it  seemed  as  if  the  entire  side  of  the  mountain 
was  falling.  They  realized  that  a  great  snow-slide 
was  taking  place,  and  they  were  being  borne  along  on 
the  bosom  of  an  avalanche,  and  hurled  down  the  moun- 
tain-side with  frightful  velocity.  One  man  was  buried 
out  of  sight  in  the  snow;  the  other,  after  making  a 
long  descent,  was  thrown  against  a  great  stump,  and 
when  he  regained  consciousness  discovered  a  short 
distance  from  him  a  prospector's  cabin,  where  he  was 
cared  for.  Men  who  stray  from  the  path  of  right- 
eousness are  liable  to  sudden  slides  into  iniquity  which 


A  FOUNTAIN  THAT  NEVER  FREEZES.        311 

would  not  have  been  believed  possible  to  them.  AVhen 
once  the  safe  trail  has  been  left  behind,  the  founda- 
tions are  treacherous  and  insecure,  and  sudden  and 
awful  deterioration  is  possible. 

MAKE  FOR  THE  OPEN  SEA. 

A  large  finback  whale  nearly  destroyed  the  fisher- 
men's weir  operated  in  the  harbor  of  Provincetown, 
Mass.  The  whale  had  entered  the  harbor  in  chase  of 
schools  of  mackerel,  and,  getting  in  shallow  water, 
followed  the  weir-leader  off  to  the  inclosure,  where  it 
entered  by  the  open  gate.  A  steamer  approached, 
and  the  whale  took  fright  and  burst  through  the  weir 
with  a  speed  and  ease  that  astonished  the  fishermen. 
The  great  poles  snapped  like  parlor  matches,  and  the 
stout  netting  melted  like  cobwebs,  and  off  went  the 
invader  seaward.  That  is  what  the  Christian  ought 
to  do  who  has  been  tempted  into  a  shallow  life  and 
finds  himself  surrounded  by  the  weir  of  worldliness. 
He  should  rouse  himself  by  the  strength  of  God  to 
burst  all  these  nets  asunder  and  make  for  the  open 
sea,  where  he  may  live  an  earnest  spiritual  life. 

A  FOUNTAIN  THAT  NEVER  FREEZES. 

A  story  comes  from  Alaska  of  the  discovery,  back 
in  the  mountains,  of  a  lake  the  waters  of  which  are 
always  warm.  Fish  in  countless  numbers  can  be 
caught  in  the  coldest  weather  without  trouble,  for  the 
waters  of  the  lake  are  never  so  cold  but  that  one  could 


312  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

bathe  in  them.  While  this  wonderful  body  of  water 
is  hundreds  of  miles  from  the  ocean,  and  there  is  no 
apparent  connection  between  the  two,  the  lake  is 
affected  by  the  tide,  suggesting  that  some  subterra- 
nean channel  may  connect  it  with  the  sea.  Lake 
Selawik  is  the  name  given  to  this  body  of  water  by 
its  discoverer,  Father  Tosi,  a  Jesuit  missionary, 
who  for  years  has  been  working  among  the  Alaska 
Indians  in  the  interior.  Like  this  warm  lake  in  the 
midst  of  almost  arctic  cold,  Christianity  is  an  up- 
springing  fountain  of  warmth  and  good  cheer  and 
never-freezing  hope,  which  will  maintain  its  life  and 
comfort  in  the  midst  of  the  most  frigid  atmosphere  of 
the  world's  sin  and  despair. 

WOMAN'S  UPWARD  MARCH. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  indications  of  the  rapid 
progress  of  China  toward  civilization  is  the  appoint- 
ment of  Miss  Hu  King  Eng,  M.D.,  to  be  the  first 
physician  in  the  private  household  of  Li  Hung  Chang. 
This  young  lady  is  the  only  female  native  of  China 
who  has  ever  graduated  from  an  American  medical 
college.  She  was  born  near  Foochow  in  1866.  Her 
grandfather  was  a  military  mandarin,  and  early  in 
life  embraced  the  Christian  religion  and  succeeded 
later  in  converting  his  six  sons  to  the  same  faith. 
Dr.  Eng  was  sent  to  the  Foochow  mission  boarding- 
school,  and  after  graduating  there  came  to  New  York 
under  the  charge  of  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  of  the  Methodist   Episcopal    Church.     She 


THE  TRANSPARENT  SOUL.  313 

spent  ten  years  in  this  country  in  study  and  in  fitting 
herself  for  her  work.  If  fifty  years  ago  it  had  been 
prophesied  that  at  this  date  the  chief  physician  in  the 
family  of  China's  grand  viceroy  would  not  only  be  a 
Christian,  but  a  Chinese  woman,  who  would  have  be- 
lieved it?     "  What  hath  God  wrought !  " 

THE  CHRISTIAN'S  RACE. 

A  great  horse-breeder  in  Kentucky  has  had  a  splen- 
did monument  built  over  the  grave  of  a  famous  race- 
horse. On  one  side  of  the  monument  there  is  this 
inscription :  "  Here  lies  the  fleetest  runner  the  Ameri- 
can turf  has  ever  known."  The  Christian  race  is  not 
to  the  swift  but  to  the  patient.  The  prize  is  for  the 
one  that  endures  unto  the  end.  "  Seeing  we  are  com- 
passed about  with  so  great  a  cloud  of  witnesses,  let  us 
run  with  patience  the  race  that  is  set  before  us." 

THE  TRANSPARENT  SOUL. 

It  is  a  matter  of  great  interest  to  visit  plate-glass 
works,  and  inspect  the  casting-tables  on  which  the 
heavy  plate-glass  used  in  the  large  store-windows  is 
cast.  Each  table  is  about  twenty  feet  long,  fifteen 
feet  wide,  and  from  seven  to  eight  inches  thick.  The 
rough  plate  is  commonly  nine-sixteenths  of  an  inch 
thick,  but  after  polishing  it  is  reduced  to  six-  or  seven- 
sixteenths.  All  casting-tables  are  mounted  on  wheels, 
which  run  on  a  track  made  to  reach  every  furnace  and 
annealing-oven  in  the  factory.     The  table  having  been 


314  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

wheeled  as  near  as  possible  to  the  melting  furnace,  a 
pot  of  molten  glass  is  lifted  by  means  of  a  crane,  and 
its  contents  poured  quickly  out  on  the  table.  A  heavy 
iron  roller  then  passes  from  end  to  end,  spreading  the 
glass  to  a  uniform  thickness.  This  rolling  operation 
has  to  be  done  by  expert  hands  quickly,  as  the  boiling 
glass,  when  it  comes  in  contact  with  the  cold  metal  of 
the  table,  cools  very  rapidly.  The  glass  is  then  passed 
into  the  oven.  When  it  is  ready  to  be  taken  out  of 
the  oven,  its  surface  is  very  rough.  In  this  condition 
it  is  used  for  skylights  and  other  purposes  where 
strength  is  desired  rather  than  transparency.  But 
when  intended  for  windows  it  has  to  go  through  an 
experience  of  grinding,  after  which  it  is  smoothed  and 
polished.  Transparent  souls  are  made  in  the  same 
way.  Men  must  be  melted  down  in  the  heat  of  the 
furnace  of  trial;  must  have  many  a  heavy  roller  run 
over  them,  leveling  their  pride  and  ambition ;  must 
be  annealed  in  the  oven  of  patient  submission ;  must 
be  ground  and  polished  by  daily  exercise  in  Christian 
duties,  that  at  last  the  soul  may  be  so  transparent 
that  whoever  looks  upon  it  shall  see  the  face  of  Jesus 
Christ. 


THE  MEDICINAL  VALUE  OF  CHEERFULNESS. 

The  French  scientific  men  have  been  discussing  the 
question  of  mirth  as  an  agent  for  the  cure  of  disease, 
or  of  states  of  mind  which  favor  the  progress  of  cer- 
tain diseases.  Some  very  novel  views  were  advanced 
on  the  subject  of  mirth  as  a  therapeutic,  and  the  case 


THE  JEWEL-FIELDS.  315 

was  recalled  of  Lord  Lanesborough,  a  victim  of  gout, 
who,  on  the  approach  of  an  attack,  began  dancing,  not 
as  if  from  a  spasm  of  pain,  but  with  the  lightness  of 
joy,  and  thus  escaped  the  worst  effects  of  the  painful 
twitch.  That  sort  of  mirth  seems  quite  artificial, 
tho  no  doubt  even  that  sort  would  be  better  than 
tamely  submitting  to  the  bondage  of  the  pain.  The 
Bible  proverb,  "  A  merry  heart  doeth  good  like  a  medi- 
cine," has  more  logic  in  it.  The  healing  beams  of 
sunshine  in  a  Christian's  hope  sustain  many  an  in- 
valid, and  soothe  the  spirit,  making  the  heart  strong 
to  bear  if  it  can  not  heal  the  disease. 

THE  JEWEL-FIELDS. 

In  the  twenty-six  years  after  the  first  diamonds 
were  disi^overed  at  Kimberley,  in  South  Africa,  from 
a  limited  area  diamonds  were  taken  worth  three  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five  millions  of  dollars,  and  the  ag- 
gregate is  increasing  every  year  at  the  rate  of  more 
than  fifteen  millions  of  dollars'  worth.  The  finding 
of  these  sparkling  stones  has  had  a  momentous  effect 
on  the  fortunes  of  Africa,  and  has  been  the  cause  of 
the  building  of  many  hundreds  of  miles  of  railroad. 
The  Christian's  diamond-field  is  all  about  him  in  every 
street  and  market-place.  Wherever  men  and  women 
are  struggling  against  temptation  and  sin,  or  are  being 
marred  and  covered  up  by  the  deadly  drift  of  world- 
liness,  there  is  a  diamond-mine  for  the  soul-winner. 
If  Jesus  were  here,  would  he  not  say  to  us  as  he  did 
to  the  disciples  at  Samaria :  "  Say  not  ye,  there  are 


316  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

yet  four  months,  and  then  cometh  harvest?  Behold, 
I  say  unto  you,  lift  up  your  eyes,  and  look  on  the 
fields;  for  they  are  white  already  to  harvest." 


LOOK  OUT  FOR  THE  READING. 

Two  farm  lads  in  jail  at  Watertown,  N.  Y,,  con- 
fessed that  they  attempted  to  hold  up  and  rob  a  lady 
in  her  own  home  on  Dry  Hill.  They  gave  as  the  rea- 
son for  beginning  a  life  of  crime  that  they  had  both 
been  persistent  readers  of  dime  novels,  and  had  become 
so  enamored  of  the  masked  heroes  in  the  vile  sensa- 
tional stories  that,  securing  masks  and  pistols,  they 
started  out  to  win  fame  and  fortune.  Parents  can  not 
be  too  careful  what  their  children  read.  The  compan- 
ionship found  in  their  books  and  papers  has  a  more  per- 
sistent influence  on  them  than  that  which  they  meet  in 
flesh  and  blood  on  the  street.  Let  us  watch  the  door 
into  the  inner  sanctuary  of  our  children's  minds  and 
hearts.  This  is  one  of  the  cases  where  the  positive 
treatment  is  much  more  effective  than  the  negative. 
Bright,  cheery,  wholesome  papers,  full  of  pictures 
and  healthy  life,  and  good  books,  are  better  defenses 
against  bad  literature  than  any  amount  of  "don'ts." 

THE  GREAT  MAGNET. 

The  scientific  world  is  all  agog  over  Mr.  Edison's 
great  discovery  of  a  method  by  which  low-grade  iron 
ore  can  be  saved  for  commercial  uses.  The  interest- 
ing feature  of  this  discovery  is  the  application  of  the 


THE  CHURCH'S  QUARRY.  317 

principle  of  the  magnet  on  a  tremendous  scale.  By 
this  means  he  draws  the  little  black  particles  of  ore 
from  the  pulverized  rock.  In  brief,  his  process  con- 
sists in  blasting  the  ore  from  the  mountain-sides,  and 
then  by  means  of  steam  shovels  and  miniature  railroad 
cars  conveying  it  to  massive  crushers,  where  it  is 
broken  up  and  passed  on  to  other  mills,  and  there  is 
pulverized.  The  powder  is  then  allowed  to  fall  in 
proximity  to  electromagnets,  which  deflect  the  iron  to 
one  side,  while  the  non-metallic  matter  falls  by  grav- 
ity to  the  other  side.  These  little  particles  of  ore  are 
compressed  into  bricks  for  shipment.  This  gathering 
of  the  otherwise  useless  ore  and  saving  it  from  the 
worthless  rock  can  not  but  suggest  to  the  reverent  mind 
the  divine  method  of  saving  souls  through  the  mag- 
netism of  Jesus  Christ.  "  And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up, 
will  draw  all  men  unto  me." 


THE  CHURCH'S  QUARRY. 

An  architectural  magazine  is  responsible  for  the 
statement  that  the  members  of  a  Presbyterian  church 
in  Waterloo,  Iowa,  have  constructed  a  new  church 
building  out  of  a  single  large  rock.  Stone  was  scarce, 
and  while  looking  about  for  a  possible  quarry  their 
attention  was  called  to  this  huge  boulder  which  stood  in 
the  middle  of  a  plain  about  eight  miles  from  the  town. 
This  mass  of  rock  was  like  an  island  in  the  midst  of  a 
vast  sea.  About  eight  feet  of  it  projected  above 
ground.  The  work  of  excavating  this  gigantic  boul- 
der was  at  once  begun.     When  exposed  to  view,  it 


318       ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

was  found  to  be  twenty-eight  feet  high,  thirty  feet 
long,  and  twenty  feet  wide.  On  this  monolith  the 
workmen  began  their  labors  with  drill,  hammer,  and 
dynamite,  and  the  enormous  rock  was  converted  into 
building-stones,  which  were  removed  to  the  town 
and  built  into  a  beautiful  church.  The  sinful  world 
about  us  is  our  quarry.  With  the  hammer  of  God's 
Word,  the  dynamite  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  earnest 
human  hearts  we  are  to  convert  the  stony  natures 
about  us  into  beautiful  building-stones  for  the  temple 
of  God. 

A  BULLET-PRCX)F  ARMOR. 

A  United  States  marshal  had  an  encounter  with 
"moonshiners,"  in  the  mountains  in  Kentucky,  and 
tho  struck  by  eighteen  bullets  fired  at  him  by  the 
outlaws,  he  escaped  unharmed  because  his  body  was 
protected  by  a  coat  of  mail  with  which  he  had  pre- 
pared himself.  The  Christian  has  the  best  coat  of 
mail  ever  invented.  We  need  never  to  go  into  battle 
without  knowing  that  the  darts  of  the  enemy  have  no 
power  to  harm  us.  Christians  everywhere  need  to 
have  emphasis  put  on  Paul's  earnest  appeal :  "  Put 
on  the  whole  armor  of  God,  that  ye  may  be  able  to 
stand  against  the  wiles  of  the  devil." 

THE  SEEKING  SAVIOR. 

Some  shipwrecked  sailors  have  been  rescued  from 
an  island  in  the  Pacific,  who  had  been  for  ten  months 
anxiously  watching  for  some  opportunity  of  escape. 


SHUN  THE  POLISHED  SINS.  319 

For  ten  months  and  ten  days  they  had  kept  their  flag 
of  distress  flying  from  the  tree-tops  during  the  day, 
and  their  signal-fires  burning  by  night.  They  knew 
no  ship  would  be  seeking  for  them,  and  their  only 
hope  of  succor  was  in  making  their  wants  known  to 
some  passing  ship.  At  last  their  signal  was  seen,  and 
with  joy  unutterable  they  beheld  a  friendly  ship  bear- 
ing down  toward  the  place  of  their  exile.  The  sin- 
ner has  more  hope  than  that,  for  "  the  Son  of  man 
came  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost."  No 
man  who  is  finally  lost  can  complain  that  he  did  not 
have  a  fair  chance  for  salvation. 

SINAI  IN  MODERN  LIFE. 

Efforts  are  being  made  to  construct  a  railroad  to  the 
summit  of  Mount  Sinai.  It  is  said  that  a  depot  will 
be  erected  near  the  spot  where  a  stone  cross  was  placed 
by  the  Russian  Empress  Helena,  and  where,  accord- 
ing to  tradition,  Moses  stood  when  receiving  the  Ten 
Commandments.  There  have  been  a  good  many  peo- 
ple in  recent  years  who  would  like  to  railroad  Sinai 
out  of  the  Bible  and  out  of  the  world,  but  it  still  stands 
and  will  continue  to  stand  so  long  as  God  is  God  and 
man  is  man.  The  need  for  Sinai  is  as  great  in  mod- 
ern life  as  in  any  other  age  the  world  has  known. 

SHUN  THE  POLISHED  SESfS. 

A  hunter  gunning  in  the  Kankakee  marsh  in  Indi- 
ana came  upon  a  flock  of  wild  geese,  and  bagged  sev- 


320  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

eral  of  them,  one  of  which  astonished  him  by  having 
as  a  breastpin  an  arrow  nine  inches  long.  This  goose 
became  the  wonder  of  the  neighborhood  and  the  study 
of  the  scientists,  who  finally  decided  that  the  bird  and 
arrow  could  have  come  from  no  other  place  on  the 
globe  than  the  Yukon  Valley  in  Alaska,  for  except 
in  that  region  no  such  arrows  are  made.  The  goose 
had  spent  its  summer  in  Alaska,  and  had  there  re- 
ceived the  arrow  shot  from  the  bow  of  an  Indian,  but 
it  had  been  insufficient  to  take  its  life.  The  bird 
disdained  the  weapon  of  a  savage,  yet  lost  its  life  by 
the  more  polished  weapon  of  civilization.  So  there 
are  many  who  disdain  the  gross  sins  of  drunkenness 
and  lust  and  dishonesty,  who  are  yet  brought  under 
condemnation  by  the  more  polished  weapons  of  pride 
and  unbelief. 

A  WILD  RIDE. 

The  death  of  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Texas  re- 
called the  story  of  the  capture,  by  a  band  of  Indians, 
of  a  young  man  and  his  wife  on  their  wedding-day. 
In  order  to  torture  them  they  were  tied  on  the  back  of 
a  wild  buffalo,  and  then  the  desperate  and  maddened 
animal  was  turned  loose,  and  with  fiendish  jeers  the 
Indians  bade  them  go  on  their  wedding  journey.  The 
buffalo  was  captured  finally  by  their  friends,  and  they 
escaped  death,  and  had  a  long  life  together.  One 
might  better  be  tied  to  the  back  of  a  wild  beast  than 
be  bound  helpless  by  the  chains  of  habit  to  some  cruel 
appetite  that  mercilessly  drags  the  soul  down  to  the 
gates  of  death. 


THE  SMALLPOX  ROCK.  321 

EARNESTNESS  NEEDED  EST  SOUL^AVING. 

As  the  ferry-boat  St.  Louis  was  nearing  mid-stream 
in  the  North  Kiver,  the  passengers  were  startled  by  a 
cry  of  "  Stop  the  boat!  My  God,  stop  the  boat!  My 
sister  has  jumped  overboard!  "  It  of  course  attracted 
immediate  attention  to  the  drowning  woman,  but  no 
one  among  all  the  passengers  criticized  the  sister  for 
her  passionate  outcry  or  bade  her  keep  still.  It  seemed 
the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world  that  she  should 
evince  this  deadly  earnestness.  We  need  the  same 
passionate  earnestness  in  seeking  to  save  our  friends 
and  neighbors  who  have  jumped  overboard  from  right- 
eousness and  innocency  into  the  whirling  current  of 
sin  and  worldliness,  and  will  be  drowned  eternally  if 
not  speedily  rescued. 

THE  SMALLPOX  ROCK, 

In  Connecticut  there  is  an  old  flat  rock,  of  huge 
dimensions,  covered  with  names  and  dates,  the  most 
recent  being  1794.  In  Revolutionary  times  there 
stood  on  this  rock  a  smallpox  hospital,  and  an  old 
story  has  been  revived  of  a  bride  from  New  Britain 
who  was  sent  during  her  honeymoon  to  this  old  pest- 
house  to  have  smallpox,  "according  to  orders."  The 
young  couple  had  planned  a  wedding-trip  to  North 
Carolina,  which  was  a  long  journey  in  those  days.  It 
occurred  to  the  bride's  father  that  she  might  be  ex- 
posed to  smallpox  while  traveling,  and  he  insisted  on 
her  going  to  the  pesthouse  on  the  mountain  to  take 
21 


322  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

the  disease  in  its  mildest  form.  The  bride  wept  and 
entreated  not  to  be  separated  from  her  husband,  and 
the  latter  expostulated,  but  to  no  avail.  The  old  sol- 
dier was  determined,  and  to  the  pest-house  she  went. 
That  old  soldier-father  was  about  as  wise  as  the  par- 
ents of  our  day  who  permit  their  children  to  read  all 
sorts  of  books,  see  all  kinds  of  pictures,  and  form  their 
own  associations,  on  the  theory  that  it  is  necessary  to 
have  them  come  in  contact  with  impure  things  in 
order  to  fit  them  for  the  temptations  that  may  beset 
them  in  after  life.  The  majority  of  people  go  through 
life  without  having  smallpox  at  all,  and  it  is  well  to 
keep  young  hearts  in  the  first  flush  and  strength  of 
their  innocence  as  long  as  possible. 

THE  RESTORATION  OF  A  SOUL. 

The  superintendent  of  the  Ohio  state-house  at 
Columbus  decided  that  the  oil  paintings  which  hang 
in  the  rotunda  needed  to  be  cleaned.  He  gave  his 
force  of  janitors  orders  to  that  effect,  and  said  no 
more  about  it.  The  janitors  went  to  work  as  tho 
they  were  going  to  scrub  windows,  and  washed  the 
priceless  paintings  with  common  soap  and  water,  and 
it  is  feared  that  some,  if  not  all,  are  badly  damaged. 
Some  people  go  about  trying  to  restore  people  who 
have  wandered  from  righteousness  with  the  same  lack 
of  skill  and  delicacy.  We  should  all  seek  that  spirit- 
ual wisdom  and  gentleness  of  love  that  will  make  us 
wise  in  restoring  souls.  David's  grandest  tribute  to 
God  is:  "He  restoreth  my  soul." 


DANGEROUS  LOVE  OF  DISPLAY.  323 


A  CHILD  AMONG  LIONS. 

A  sheep-herder  on  Casper  Mountain,  in  Wyoming, 
arose  one  morning  at  daylight,  as  usual,  and  followed 
his  flock,  leaving  his  wife  and  little  two-year-old 
child  sleeping  in  camp.  When  he  returned  at  eight 
o'clock  for  breakfast  the  woman  was  still  fast  asleep 
and  the  baby  was  gone.  It  had  awakened  and  tod- 
dled off  in  its  night-dress.  A  search  was  at  once 
made  for  the  little  one,  and  its  barefoot  tracks  were 
found  leading  to  a  spring  nearly  a  mile  away.  Near 
the  spring  Avere  also  found  fresh  tracks  of  a  huge 
mountain  lion.  No  other  trace  of  the  babe  was  found. 
The  little  children  of  our  cities  are  many  of  them 
wandering  among  lions.  Many  parents  sleep  in  in- 
difference or  false  security  while  their  children  wan- 
der away  and  are  destroyed.  The  Psalmist  said  on 
one  occasion  of  fearful  trial,  "  My  soul  is  among 
lions, "  but  it  is  a  sad  thing  to  let  the  little  babes  tod- 
dle into  the  lion's  mouth  through  the  indifference  of 
those  who  ought  to  protect  them. 

DANGEROUS  LOVE  OF  DISPLAY. 

A  visitor  to  London  during  the  Queen's  Jubilee  tes- 
tifies that  the  diamonds  worn  by  the  women  of  the 
American  colonies  outblazed  those  of  the  royal  family 
and  the  wealthiest  of  the  English  nobility.  This 
growing  love  of  display  is  one  of  the  danger-signals 
of  our  time.     To  provide  these  women  with  such  dia- 


324  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

monds  many  a  maa  stakes  his  soul  in  desperate  gam- 
bling transactions  in  and  out  of  Wall  Street.  The 
feverish  desire  which  men  often  show  for  great  and 
sudden  riches  is  not  infrequently  at  the  bottom  the 
desire  of  some  foolish  woman  to  outshine  other  women. 
If  he  succeeds,  she  wears  the  diamonds ;  if  he  fails, 
there  is  another  account  of  a  suicide  in  the  morning 
paper. 

EFFEMINATE  YOUTH. 

In  one  of  our  large  cities,  on  the  day  before  the  col- 
lege opening,  an  hour's  ride  distant,  a  large  number 
of  students  were  saying  "  good-by  "  at  the  railway  sta- 
tion to  their  parents  and  friends.  Among  them  was 
one  youth  who  attracted  much  attention.  He  came 
in  with  a  handsomely  dressed  lady,  evidently  his 
mother,  for  she  seemed  greatly  devoted  to  him.  He 
was  elaborately  attired,  with  flashy  tie  and  pointed 
yellow  shoes,  and  a  heavy  watch-chain  across  his  vest. 
His  mother  carried  his  bag  and  umbrella,  the  young 
man's  only  burden  being  a  light  cane.  Presently  he 
sidled  over  to  a  group  of  young  men  and  asked  for  a 
match.  It  was  handed  him,  and  he  thereupon  drew 
out  a  cigarette  and  puffed  away  at  it  with  great  satis- 
faction.    " College  is  a  good  place  for  that, "  said 

one  of  the  young  men  to  his  companions.  "  They'll 
cure  '  mamma's  boy  '  of  the  cigarette  habit  down  there 
in  short  order. "  "  Yes,  and  of  a  good  many  other 
foolish  notions."  We  all  hope  this  prophecy  will 
come  true ;  yet  I  could  not  help  but  feel  what  a  great 
blunder  this  mother  had  made  in  not  bringing  up  her 


A   CHAIN  OF  GOOD  DEEDS.  325 

son  to  be  something  more  than  an  effeminate  cigarette- 
smoker.  The  weakness  and  silliness  of  many  modern 
youth,  both  boys  and  girls,  are  the  products  of  a 
family  discipline  that  is  nerveless  and  fatally  lack- 
ing in  conscience  and  moral  purpose.  It  is  hard  to 
improve  on  the  old  proverb  such  as :  "  He  that 
spareth  the  rod  hateth  his  son,"  or,  "  Train  up  a  child 
in  the  way  he  should  go ;  and  when  he  is  old,  he  will 
not  depart  from  it. " 

RESCUING  HIDDEN  TREASURE. 

After  having  been  submerged  in  nearly  two  hun- 
dred feet  of  water  for  seven  years,  the  treasure  on 
board  the  steamer  Skyy^o,  sunk  off  Cape  Finisterre  in 
1891,  has  been  recovered  by  divers.  Many  efforts 
had  been  made  without  avail,  but  finally  with  a  more 
powerful  diving  apparatus  a  brave  diver  descended  to 
the  wreck,  and  blew  away  the  deck  with  dynamite, 
and  secured  $45,000  in  precious  metal.  We  ought  to 
be  as  persistent  in  seeking  after  the  far  more  precious 
treasure  hidden  under  the  rough  exterior  of  sinful  men 
and  women  around  us.  No  treasure-ship  ever  carried 
freight  so  valuable  as  an  immortal  soul.  Well  does 
the  Scripture  say :  "  He  that  winneth  souls  is  wise." 

A  CHAIN  OF  GOOD  DEEDS. 

A  miner  who  had  come  back  from  the  Klondike  had 
made  a  unique  gold  watch-chain,  composed  of  splen- 
did nuggets  taken  from  a  mine  in  the  newly  discovered 


326  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS 

gold-fields  in  Alaska.  A  newspaper  reporter,  writing 
of  it,  said  that  wherever  this  miner  went  this  striking 
chain  of  nuggets  made  him  a  walking  advertisement 
for  the  Klondike,  and  aroused  a  desire  in  other  men 
to  go  there.  The  sincere  disciple  of  Jesus  Christ  who 
seizes  every  opportunity  to  do  Christlike  deeds  is  form- 
ing a  chain  of  nuggets  far  more  precious.  Wherever 
he  goes  the  imagination  of  men  is  aroused,  and  their 
desires  awakened  to  know  the  Christ  who  makes  such 
deeds  possible.  This  is  what  Christ  meant  when  he 
said :  "  Let  your  light  so  shine  before  men  that  they 
may  see  your  good  works  and  glorify  your  Father 
which  is  in  heaven." 

BLOOMING  THROUGH  THE  SNOW. 

A  traveler  in  Siberia  tells  of  the  wonderful  flower 
that  grows  there,  and  which  blooms  only  in  January, 
when  the  winter  is  at  its  height.  The  blossom  has 
something  of  the  characteristics  of  the  morning-glory, 
lasting  only  a  single  day.  A  Russian  nobleman  named 
Anthoskoff  took  a  number  of  the  seeds  to  St.  Peters- 
burg. They  were  placed  in  a  pot  of  snow  and  frozen 
earth.  On  the  coldest  day  of  the  following  Januaiy 
the  miraculous  flower  burst  through  its  icy  covering, 
and  displayed  its  beauties  to  the  wondering  scientists. 
A  hope  in  Jesus  Christ  is  like  that  snow-flower  in 
that  you  may  carry  it  into  the  heart  of  heathenism, 
where  all  about  is  foreign  and  hostile  to  it,  and  it  will 
bloom  with  the  same  beauty  and  fragrance  as  in  a  land 
of  Christians. 


BEJECTINO  OUR  INHERITANCE.  327 


THE  LIGHT  OF  THE  WORLD. 

That  was  a  very  striking  letter  and  full  of  signifi- 
cant statement  which  Rev.  Gilbert  Reid,  the  Chinese 
missionary,  received  from  Li  Hung  Chang,  in  which 
that  statesman  says:  "Unquestionably,  if  you  can 
give  to  the  blind  leaders  of  our  people  light  and  learn- 
ing enjoyed  in  the  West,  they,  in  turn,  will  lead  our 
people  out  of  their  darkness.  I  think  I  may  claim 
to  have  many  friends  in  the  United  States,  where  you 
now  go.  The  cordial  reception  I  met  with  wherever 
I  went  there  made  a  deep  impression  upon  my  heart, 
and  has  greatly  endeared  your  people  to  me.  If  it 
would  interest  them  to  know  that  I  regard  you  highly 
and  give  you  a  helping  hand  in  your  future  efforts  to 
bring  more  light  into  the  world  and  encourage  higher 
aims  for  human  aspirations,  you  may  use  for  that  pur- 
pose this  letter  from  your  friend. "  Christ  will  go  on 
shining  until  every  dark  spot  of  the  earth  shall  be 
illuminated  by  his  presence. 


REJECTING  OUR  INHERITANCE. 

A  youn£"  woman  who  had  been  brought  up  among 
the  Blackfeet  Indians  refused  to  recognize  a  wealthy 
citizen  of  Cincinnati  who  a  few  years  ago  claimed  her 
as  his  daughter,  and  married  a  full-blooded  Indian  of 
the  tribe.  How  many  poor  sinners  there  are  who  be- 
come so  infatuated  with  evil  associations  that  they 
refuse  to  admit  their  sonship  to  God,  and  turn  their 


328  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

backs  on  purity  and  heaven  that  they  may  wallow  in 
the  lusts  that  have  made  them  captive. 


THE  SAVING  POWER   OF  A  GOOD    CHARACTEFL 

In  a  terrible  storm,  on  the  San  Antonio  and  Aransas 
Pass  road,  a  large  number  of  Mexican  laborers  who 
were  camped  on  the  embankment  were  washed  into 
the  bay.  When  morning  dawned  after  the  cyclone, 
scores  of  them  were  missing,  and,  it  was  thought, 
drowned.  As  a  matter  of  fact  not  a  single  Mexican 
lost  his  life.  For  days  afterward  they  could  be  seen 
coming  across  the  sand-marsh,  each  man  wheeling  his 
wooden  wheelbarrow.  When  the  men  realized  that 
they  were  doomed  to  risk  a  watery  grave,  every  one 
of  them  grabbed  his  wheelbarrow  and  floated  away  in 
it.  The  barrows  all  grounded  as  the  storm  subsided, 
and  the  workmen  made  their  escape.  A  good  charac- 
ter is  such  a  refuge  when  the  storm  comes  and  sweeps 
away  every  other  source  of  safety.  Many  a  man  has 
tided  over  the  recent  hard  times  and  come  up  safe  in 
the  more  promising  days  because  his  good  character 
floated  him  on  the  waves. 

SELF-DECEPTION. 

There  was  on  one  occasion  a  greatly  disappointed 
young  man  at  West  Point.  He  came  all  the  way 
from  Wisconsin  to  enter  the  Military  Academy,  and 
when  he  foimd  that  several  documents  with  large  seals 
wore  necessary  for  that  purpose,  he  felt  veiy  badly 


STANDING  IN  OUR  PLACE.  329 

indeed.  He  was  born  and  reared  in  a  little  town  in 
Wisconsin.  He  had  dreamed  of  being  a  soldier  and 
determined  to  come  to  West  Point  for  a  military  edu- 
cation. He  had  a  long,  hard  trip  from  Wisconsin  to 
the  Hudson.  He  was  two  months  walking  and  rid- 
ing on  freight  trains  in  making  the  journey.  A  sen- 
tinel stopped  him  when  he  tried  to  enter  the  barracks, 
and  explained  the  necessary  requirements  to  get  there. 
The  boy  was  heart-broken,  and  cried  like  a  child. 
The  Savior  says  there  will  be  some  deceived  like  that 
at  the  last  judgment.  People  who  imagined  they 
were  going  to  get  into  heaven,  and  yet,  having  made 
no  preparation  for  it,  will  be  turned  away  at  last. 
Heaven  is  a  prepared  place  for  a  prepared  people. 

STANDING  IN  OUR  PLACE. 

The  president  of  one  of  the  Brooklyn  electric  rail- 
roads operated  his  own  private  car  one  day  with  the 
regular  motorman  as  an  only  passenger.  The  demo- 
cratic railroad  official  had  occasion  to  go  to  New  York. 
His  private  car  was  run  out  from  the  shed  at  Twenty- 
third  Street  and  Fifth  Avenue,  and  the  president 
entered  it.  The  car  started  toward  the  Bridge.  The 
motorman  was  very  thinly  clad,  and  as  a  result  he 
shivered  and  shook  on  the  front  platform  of  the  car 
until  Ninth  Street  was  reached.  There,  as  if  seized 
by  a  sudden  thought,  the  president  jumped  up  from 
his  richly  upholstered  chair  in  the  cozy  car  and  dashed 
out  on  the  platform.  "  Go  inside  and  get  warm, "  he 
said  to  the  motorman,  who  attempted  to  expostulate. 


330  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

But  inside  he  had  to  go.  There,  seated  in  the  big 
chair  just  vacated  by  his  employer,  he  remained  until 
the  Bridge  was  reached,  where  the  president  yielded 
his  post  at  the  motor-box,  and  went  on  his  way  to 
New  York.  That  is  a  pleasant  story,  and  does  honor 
to  the  heart  of  the  railroad  president,  yet,  after  all,  it 
was  only  the  kind  impulse  of  an  hour  to  put  himself 
in  the  workingman's  place.  But  there  was  One  who 
had  all  the  glory  of  heaven,  before  whom  angels  cast 
their  crowns,  who  laid  it  all  aside  and  came  down  to 
earth  and  became  a  poor  carpenter,  and  put  himself  in 
our  place,  and  for  thrce-and-thirty  years  tasted  our 
grief  and  sorrow,  not  that  the  poor  shivering,  despair- 
ing sinner  might  be  warmed  for  an  hour,  but  that  he 
might  have  eternal  life  and  gladness. 

THE  CONQUEST  OF  JOY  OVER  SORROW. 

Mr.  Landor,  the  traveler  and  explorer,  who  had 
such  a  fearful  experience  in  his  undertaking  to  enter 
the  sacred  city  of  Tibet,  being  subjected  to  the  most 
cruel  tortures  that  any  man  ever  underwent  and  lived 
to  tell  the  story,  relates  that  on  escaping  from  his  foes 
and  meeting  with  his  friends  his  normal  spirits,  that 
were  beginning  to  fade  away,  came  back  as  by  magic. 
One  sentence  expressing  this  fact  is  very  striking  and 
suggestive :  "  It  is  strange  how  one  moment  of  hap- 
piness makes  you  forget  months  of  hardships  and  suf- 
ferings." What  a  benevolent  provision  that  is  in  the 
government  of  the  world !  God  has  so  ordained  it  that 
joy  shall  make  final  conquest  over  sorrow.     There  is 


COOPERATION  IN  MODERN  CIVILIZATION.  331 

great  comfort  in  this  to  the  Christian  heart.  Weep- 
ing may  endure  for  a  night,  but  joy  cometh  with  the 
morning.  Life  on  earth  may  be  full  of  hardship  and 
trial,  but  eternity  is  beyond,  where  there  are  no  tears, 
where  pain  is  unknown,  and  darkness  and  death  shall 
be  forgotten.  One  hour  of  heaven  will  cause  us  to 
forget  all  the  hardships  of  fourscore  years. 

STANDING  ON  ONE'S  MERITS. 

If  a  man  wants  to  know  his  weaknesses  as  well  as 
his  strength,  he  needs  to  go  where  people  do  not  know 
him,  and  where  titles  or  money  or  past  achievements 
do  not  prejudice  his  associates  in  his  fav^or.  The 
story  is  told  of  Dr.  Temple,  the  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, that  he  once  entered  an  East  End  church  at 
night,  and  standing  in  a  back  pew  joined  in  the  sing- 
ing of  a  Moody  and  Sankey  hymn.  Next  to  him 
stood  a  workingman  who  was  singing  lustily  in  tune. 
The  archbishop  sang  lustily  also,  but  not  in  tune. 
The  workingman  stood  the  discord  as  long  as  he  could, 
and  then,  nudging  the  church  dignitary,  said  in  a 
whisper :  "  Here,  dry  up,  mister ;  you  are  spoiling  the 
show." 

COOPERATION  IN  MODERN  CIVILIZATION. 

An  earnest  and  intelligent  man  has  undertaken  to 
compute  what  a  dinner  really  cost  for  which  he  him- 
self paid  seventy-five  cents.  The  pepper  came  from 
ten  thousand  miles  away.  It  grew  on  a  little  bush 
about  eight  feet  high,  which  must  have  had  a  growth 


332  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

of  at  least  five  years.  The  pepper  was  picked  green ; 
it  had  to  be  dried  in  the  sun,  and  this  meant  employ- 
ing women.  It  took  one  ship  and  one  thousand  miles 
of  railroad  to  bring  the  pepper  to  the  United  States. 
The  flour  of  which  the  bread  was  made  came  from 
Dakota;  some  one  owned  the  land,  and  that  meant 
the  investing  of  capital ;  and  then  he  had  also  to  pay 
wages  to  workingmen.  Flour  had  to  be  ground,  and 
the  building  of  the  mill  and  the  plant  or  machinery 
meant  more  money  invested.  The  millers  had  to  be 
paid,  coopers  had  to  be  paid  for  making  the  barrels, 
and,  of  course,  the  wood  of  which  the  barrels  were 
made  had  to  be  cut  and  sawed  and  shaped,  and  this 
meant  the  employing  of  more  men.  Then  the  flour 
had  to  be  shipped  over  the  railroad,  and  handled  again 
by  cartmen  before  it  came  into  the  house.  The  tea 
on  the  table  came  from  China  and  the  coffee  from 
South  America.  The  codfish  had  to  be  brought  from 
Maine.  Men  had  to  be  employed  to  catch  the  fish ; 
other  men  and  women  were  employed  in  drying,  pack- 
ing, and  boxing  it;  and  it,  too,  had  to  make  a  long 
railroad  journey.  The  salt  came  from  the  Indian 
reservation  in  the  northwestern  part  of  New  York 
State.  The  spices  in  the  cake  came  from  the  Spice 
Islands  in  the  Indian  Archipelago.  The  canned 
peaches  came  from  California,  and  they,  too,  repre- 
sented the  employment  of  capital  and  labor.  He 
found  that  the  modest  little  dinner  represented  the 
employment  of  five  hundred  million  dollars  in  capital 
and  five  million  men  and  women.  There  is  a  glorious 
day  coming  when  Christianity  shall  have  so  completely 


WHERE  DO   YOU  STAND?  333 

permeated  the  hearts  of  men  everywhere  that  all  the 
men  and  money  in  the  world  shall  be  working  together 
for  the. greatest  good  of  every  individual.  As  Frances 
Willard  was  fond  of  saying,  "  Christianity  means 
*  together. '  " 

WHERE  DO  YOU  STAND? 

A  famous  naval  architect  was  the  guest  of  a  prince 
of  the  German  imperial  family,  and  when  out  walking 
with  his  host  observed  that  the  side  of  the  path  he 
occupied  was  smoother  and  easier  than  that  upon 
which  the  host  was  walking.  Thinking  it  to  be  only 
ordinary  politeness,  he  changed  from  the  left  to  the 
right  side.  Then  he  noticed  that  the  notables  whom 
they  met  saluted  the  prince  with  profound  respect, 
but  stared  at  him  as  if  they  were  very  much  surprised 
and  wondered  who  he  was.  In  a  short  time  the 
prince  said :'  "  Did  you  observe  that  after  you  changed 
to  my  right  side  the  people  whom  we  met  looked  at 
you  in  great  surprise?"  "Yes,"  was  the  architect's 
reply;  and  then  he  explained  why  he  had  changed 
his  position.  "Ah,  yes!  just  so!"  laughed  the 
prince.  "  Well,  I  will  explain  why  they  looked  so 
intently  at  you.  It  is  a  rule  of  the  German  court 
that  the  person  of  the  highest  rank  shall  occupy  the 
right-hand  side.  All  the  people  whom  we  met  knew 
me,  but  when  they  saw  you  on  my  right  hand,  they 
supposed  you  to  be  a  king,  and  wondered  who  you 
could  be."  This  suggests  to  us  the  importance  of 
choosing  those  with  whom  we  shall  walk,  and  the 
care  we  should  take  of  our  standing-place  in  life.     If 


334  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

a  man  stands  by  Jesus  Christ  and  shares  His  fate  in 
every  question  of  public  righteousness,  something  of 
the  glory  of  Christ  wiU  add  dignity  and  nobility  to 
his  own  person. 


SELF-FORGETEULNESS. 

When  the  great  temperance  leader  lay  dead  in 
Chicago,  among  the  flowers  near  her  was  a  bunch  of 
violets  from  a  Washington  newspaper  woman.  This 
woman  had  never  seen  Miss  Willard  but  once.  It 
was  in  a  Western  city.  She  was  a  reporter  on  a  local 
paper,  discouraged,  overworked,  blue,  homesick,  and 
altogether  miserable.  She  was  not  yet  out  of  her 
teens,  and  had  been  away  from  home  only  a  few 
months.  Miss  Willard  came  to  the  city  to  organize  a 
W.  C.  T.  U.  chapter.  The  young  woman  reporter 
was  sent  to  her  hotel  to  ask  her  something  important. 
Miss  Willard  was  ill,  but  sent  word  that  she  might 
come  up.  The  reporter  found  her  sitting  in  an  easy- 
chair,  very  pale,  but  very  sweet.  She  had  only 
begun  to  tell  her  errand  when  the  great  woman  arose 
and  came  toward  her.  She  put  her  hands  on  the 
girl's  shoulder.  "Why,  dearie,"  she  said,  "how 
tired  you  look !  Take  my  chair,  child. "  "  And  I — 
well,"  said  the  reporter,  when  she  sent  the  flowers  to 
Miss  Willard's  funeral,  "nobody  had  called  me 
*  dearie  '  for  so  long,  nobody  had  called  me  '  child, ' 
that  T — well,  I  put  my  head  on  Frances  Willard's 
shoulder  and  cried  it  all  out.  I  had  never  seen  her 
before;    I  have  never  seen  her  since;    but  for  the 


A   TOUCH  OF  HUMAN  FELLOWSHIP.      335 

memory  of  those  few  kind  words  I  say,  '  God  bless 
Frances  Willard ! '  "  What  a  power  for  good  such 
Christlike  self-forgetfulness  gives  to  the  disciples  of 
Jesus  to  comfort  and  refresh  those  who  are  weary  and 
ready  to  faint! 

A  TOUCH  OF  HUMAN  FELLOWSHIP. 

In  the  unconventional  frontier  sections  of  the  great 
West  one  often  sees  realized  the  truth  of  the  proverb, 
"One  touch  of  nature  makes  the  whole  world  kin." 
A  county  clerk  was  calling  the  roll  of  grand  jurymen 
in  a  Southern  California  county.  He  came  to  the 
name  of  Joe  Mandivil.  At  the  sound  of  his  name 
Mr.  Mandivil  stood  up.  Tall,  with  slightly  bent 
shoulders,  and  with  an  air  about  him  that  bespoke 
the  rough  but  tender-hearted  frontiersman,  he  made 
a  striking  figure  in  the  court-room. 

"  Your  Honor, "  said  he,  "  I  should  like  to  make 
a  statement.  I  live  away  up  the  Colorado  River,  a 
long  ways  above  the  Picacho  Landing." 

A  few  dapper  young  men  about  the  court-room 
smiled  audibly,  but  the  frontiersman  ran  his  hands 
through  his  hair  and  continued:  "Fact  is,  it's  four 
hundred  and  twenty  miles  the  way  I  have  to  come 
from  my  home  to  this  court,  and  when  I  received 
word  that  I  was  summoned  I  didn't  have  the  money 
for  the  trip,  and  was  compelled  to  borrow  fifty  dollars 
at  two  per  cent,  per  month,  to  pay  my  fare.  I've 
got  three  little  children  out  there  on  the  desert,  and 
they're  all  alone,  for  my  wife  died  three  months  ago, 


336  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

and  I  ought  to  be  home  looking  after  those  kids  right 
now." 

Strange,  but  no  one  thought  of  laughing;  even 
those  well-dressed  youths  sobered  up  most  surpris- 
ingly, and  all  listened  intently  while  the  frontiersman 
finished  his  story. 

"I've  had  a  little  trouble  lately,"  he  said  simply, 
"  and  a  lot  of  assessment  work  on  some  mines  needs 
to  be  done.  I  ought  to  be  there  to  do  it,  and  I'd  like 
to  be  excused." 

"  A]id  I  guess  you  may  be, "  said  the  court,  and  an 
hour  later  Joe  Mandivil  was  homeward  bound  to  his 
three  motherless  bairns  out  on  the  desert. 

HGHTING  AGAINST  RESCUE. 

In  New  York  City  a  woman  was  preparing  a  table 
for  tea  in  the  dining-room  of  her  home  shortly  before 
eight  o'clock.  She  went  to  a  cupboard  in  a  passage- 
way between  the  dining-room  and  the  kitchen  and 
opened  the  door.  A  sheet  of  flame  burst  from  the 
closet  and  caught  her  gown.  The  young  woman's 
mother  heard  her  screams  and  ran  from  the  kitchen, 
seeking  to  wrap  something  about  her  to  smother  the 
flames,  but  the  poor  girl  was  so  maddened  by  pain 
that  she  rushed  through  the  hallway  into  the  street. 
There  many  tried  to  save  her,  but  in  her  frenzy  she 
fought  them  away  until  she  was  burned  so  badly  that 
her  life  could  not  be  saved.  Alas!  there  are  many, 
both  'men  and  women,  whose  passions  and  appetites 
are  on  fire  with  evil,  who  instead  of  welcoming  those 


RESIST  THE  DEVIL.  337 

who  try  to  smother  the  devouring  flames,  fight  against 
the  rescuers  who  are  seeking  to  deliver  them.  There 
is  no  frenzy  more  terrible  than  the  frenzy  of  sin. 

THE  UNREASON  OF  ENVY. 

No  sin  is  more  silly  than  envy.  The  envious  spirit 
often  leads  its  poor  victim  into  the  most  egregious 
folly.  One  day  in  New  York  City  a  sound,  well-built 
man  actually  bemoaned  that  fate  had  not  made  him  a 
cripple.  He  stood  near  Fourteenth  Street  and  Sixth 
Avenue,  trying  to  sell  lead  pencils  with  rubbers  at- 
tached. He  called  out  lustily,  but  few  people  cared 
to  buy.  Before  him  passed  a  cripple  on  crutches, 
who  hobbled  briskly  in  and  out  among  the  crowd, 
doing  a  rushing  business  in  popular  song-sheets.  As 
the  pencil-vender  eyed  him  in  envy,  he  was  heard  to 
mutter,  as  he  stood  shivering  there,  "  I  wish  I  had 
only  one  leg." 

RESIST  THE  DEVIL. 

Animal-trainers  say  that  the  secret  of  handling 
safely  all  beasts  of  the  cat  species,  such  as  lions, 
tigers,  and  leopards,  is  to  keep  them  constantly  afraid 
of  you.  The  instant  they  get  over  their  fear,  they 
will  attack  any  one  who  crosses  their  path.  They 
are  all  treacherous,  too,  and  often  gather  courage  for 
an  attack  when  the  master's  eyes  are  turned  way 
from  them,  altho  they  would  not  dare  revolt  if  he 
faced  them.  One  never  knows  when  they  will  get 
over  their  fear  and  spring  at  the  keeper  if  they  have 
22 


338  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

a  chance  to  do  it  from  behind.  Our  fight  with  the 
devil  is  like  that.  He  is  always  seeking-to  attack 
us  from  the  rear  or  in  ambush.  The  devil  goes  about 
like  a  roaring  lion  seeking  whom  he  may  devour,  but 
he  is  a  great  coward  when  faced  with  courage. 
"Resist  the  devil  and  he  will  flee  from  you"  is  as 
true  in  our  time  as  it  was  when  the  Apostle  James 
first  made  the  declaration. 


CARE  FOR  THE  CHILDREN. 

A  warm  Christian  sympathy  filling  the  heart  of 
childhood  in  its  tender  days  is  the  surest  prophecy  of 
a  strong  Christian  character  in  later  years. 

The  farmers  in  Iceland  used  to  rob  the  nests  of  the 
eider  ducks  of  their  precious  down  twice  each  season, 
the  mother  duck  supplying  it  each  time  from  her  own 
body.  The  third  time  the  drake  gave  his  white 
down,  and  this  was  allowed  to  remain.  The  farmers 
found  after  a  while,  however,  that  this  did  not  pay, 
as  under  such  treatment  the  little  birds  did  not  thrive 
well.  Now  they  never  take  the  down  until  after  the 
little  ducks  are  hatched  and  get  a  fair  start.  It  has 
been  found  that  the  little  birds  thrive  better  and  in- 
crease faster  when  they  are  allowed  to  hatch  as  nature 
meant  them  to.  So  now  the  mothers  are  no  longer 
obliged  to  strip  themselves  of  all  their  down  to  fur- 
nish their  despoiled  nests.  Sometimes,  if  the  quan- 
tity be  very  great,  a  little  may  be  taken,  but  enough 
must  be  left  to  cover  the  eggs  when  the  duck  leaves 
her  nest  for  food. 


THE  LURKING  SIN.  339 


USEFULNESS  THE  TEST  OF  LIFE. 

It  is  not  the  weight  of  a  man  in  avoirdupois  that 
counts,  but  the  number  of  pounds  he  lifts  in  helping 
on  the  world's  progress.  It  is  not  the  size  of  the 
hive,  but  the  quality  and  quantity  of  the  honey  that 
comes  out  for  use  on  the  table,  that  tells  the  value  of 
the  bees.  There  is  a  natural  beehive  in  Mendocino 
County,  Cal.  It  is  a  rift  in  the  face  of  a  cliff  which 
leads  into  a  large  cave  where  myriads  of  bees  make 
their  home.  One  can  not  go  very  close  to  it,  because 
at  all  hours  of  the  day  a  swarm  of  bees  hover  about 
the  mouth  hundreds  of  feet  in  all  directions.  During 
the  summer  dead  birds  can  always  be  seen  on  the 
ground  around  the  mouth  of  this  giant  hive.  They 
have  been  stung  to  death  while  attempting  to  fly 
through  the  swarm  of  insects.  Men  have  sometimes 
incased  themselves  in  suits  of  leather  with  wire 
screens  about  the  head,  and  forced  their  way  into 
the  cave,  but  have  not  been  able  to  bring  away  any 
great  amount  of  honey. 

THE  LURKING  SIN. 

Sin  lurks  in  the  darkness,  and  sometimes  clothes 
itself  in  what  seems  harmless  and  even  friendly  to  us. 

A  lady  living  at  Port  Jervis,  N.  Y.,  was  attacked 
one  evening  by  a  wild  cat.  She  went  out  on  the  ter- 
race back  of  her  house,  which  is  situated  at  the  foot 
of  a  mountain  in  this  village,  to  get   a   tablecloth. 


340  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

Seeing  the  dim  outlines  of  what  she  supposed  was  her 
pet  cat,  she  put  out  her  hand  to  stroke  it.  The  ani- 
mal sprang  upon  her,  biting  her  hand  to  the  bone, 
and  lacerating  her  arm  with  its  claws  and  teeth. 
Her  cries  brought  to  her  assistance  the  house-dog, 
and  the  wild  cat  flew  up  the  mountain-side. 

THE  TIDE  THAT  SWEEPS  TO  FORTUNE. 

It  makes  all  the  difference  in  the  world  whether" 
one  is  alert  and  wide  awake  to  take  advantage  of  the 
incoming  tide  of  privilege  and  opportunity  which  God 
brings  to  us. 

A  tidal  phenomenon  occurred  in  one  of  the  rivers 
of  New  Brunswick  recently,  of  which  the  wise  water- 
men can  give  no  explanation.  The  young  flood 
rushed  up  the  river  like  a  tidal  wave,  with  no  east- 
erly storm  outside  to  account  for  its  tremendous  en- 
ergy. The  fish  came  in  great  masses,  borne  along 
helplessly  by  the  rushing  tide.  Fishermen  who  were 
quick  enough  and  shrewd  enough  to  haul  in  their  nets 
at  once  made  wonderful  catches,  and  profited  enor- 
mously by  this  strange  tide ;  but  the  fishermen  who 
neglected  the  pivotal  moment  saw  their  nets  dragged 
away,  the  stakes  lifted  out  of  the  mud,  and  their  en- 
tire outfit  swept  under  the  ice  and  carried  off. 

THE  SWEETS  OF  HOME  LIFE. 

Many  persons  who  are  giving  themselves  up  to  a 
life  of  empty  show,  while  the  heart  aches  underneath 
all  the  giddy  display,  would  find  what  would  seem  in 


ABUNDANCE,  BUT  NO   WASTE.  341 

contrast  a  very  heaven  on  earth  if  they  would  only 
turn  about  and  cultivate  the  simple  virtues  and  enjoy- 
ments of  home  life.  In  the  "  Life  Story  of  Mary 
Anderson"  (Mme.  de  Navarra)  the  American  actress 
dilartes  on  the  "  hoUowness  of  stage  life, "  and  the  in- 
expressible relief  and  happiness  of  the  calm  and  the 
peace  of  the  simple,  quiet  life  she  is  now  leading. 
The  whilom  actress  is  quoted  as  adding:  "JSTever 
again  will  there  be  a  thought  of  stage  life.  Life  is 
something  greater  and  better  than  stage  excitement 
and  admiration — as,  for  instance,  that  boy  up-stairs. 
One  of  my  constant  delights  is  music  and  singing,  of 
which  I  hope  to  do  a  great  deal.  Stage  life!  No. 
Never,  never  again." 

ABUNDANCE,  BUT  NO  WASTE. 

There  is  no  sign  of  stinginess  in  God's  universe. 
There  is  abundance  everywhere,  but  nothing  is  al- 
lowed to  go  to  waste.  The  way  the  heavenly  Care- 
taker brings  beauty  out  of  decay  and  death  is  illus- 
trated in  the  creation  of  amber.  The  main  source  of 
the  amber  supply  is  the  coast  of  the  Baltic  Sea.  It 
is  fossil  gum,  originally  the  exudation  of  a  species  of 
pine-tree,  now  extinct.  The  immense  forests  of 
amber  pine  underwent  their  natural  downfall  and 
decay.  The  resin  of  the  wood  accumulated  in  large 
quantities  in  bogs  and  ponds  and  in  the  soil  of  the 
forest.  Where  the  coast  was  slowly  sinking,  the  sea, 
by  and  by,  covered  the  land,  and  the  amber,  which 
had  been  gradually  hardening,  was  at  last  deposited 


342  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

at  the  ocean  bottom.  More  than  two  hundred  speci- 
mens of  extinct  life,  animal  and  vegetable,  have  been 
found  imbedded  in  amber  specimens.  Some  of  these 
specimens  are  so  curiously  beautiful  as  to  be  almost 
priceless,  and  one  English  collector  has  a  cabinet  of 
them  which  is  valued  at  a  half -million  of  dollars. 
One  piece  embalms  a  lizard  about  eight  inches  long, 
a  little  jeweled  monster,  perfect  in  its  form  and  color- 
ing, which  has  no  like  in  anything  existing  now. 
Indeed,  in  many  instances,  science  is  able  solely 
through  this  medium  to  study  details  of  animal  life 
which  perished  from  the  earth  many  hundred  thou- 
sand years  ago.  There  are  flies  preserved  with  wings 
poised,  as  if  for  flight,  where  the  prismatic  sheen 
glowing  through  the  yellow  sepulchre  is  as  brilliant 
as  if  they  were  floating  alive  in  the  sunshine. 

THE  REFLECTED  TENDERNESS  OF  JESUS. 

The  power  of  Christianity  so  to  infuse  tenderness 
into  the  human  heart  that  men  will  be  gracious 
and  kind  to  each  other,  and  will  finally  be  so  mast- 
ered by  the  gentle  spirit  that  all  animals  will  feel 
its  effects,  has  constant  illustration.  Twenty-nine 
aged  and  infirm  horses  were  given  a  New  Year's 
dinner  at  the  Home  of  Rest  for  Horses  in  London  on 
the  opening  day  of  the  present  year.  The  horses 
were  fed  in  the  presence  of  a  large  number  of  sub- 
scribers to  the  Rest,  and  their  friends.  The  dinner, 
which  had  been  prepared  by  the  superintendent,  con- 
sisted of  apples,  carrots,  and  bread.     Each  horse  was 


MAN  ENTERING  ON  HIS  DOMINION.      343 

supplied  with  ten  large  apples,  divided  in  quarters, 
ten  pounds  of  carrots,  and  about  four  pounds  of 
bread.  These  were  mixed  and  sprinkled  with  sugar. 
Some  ladies  brought  several  delicacies  and  fed  their 
special  favorites,  who  seemed  greatly  to  enjoy  their 
repast.  The  oldest  inmate  of  the  Home  is  a  mare 
called  ''Betsey,"  whose  age  is  forty-one  years.  The 
famous  black  charger  "Bones,"  who  was  once  in  the 
Horse  Guards  Blue,  is  in  the  Home,  and  is  quartered 
with  a  diminutive  animal  which  was  once  owed  by  a 
muffin-man.  Another  pony  in  the  Home  was  res- 
cued by  the  Duchess  of  Portland  a  few  months  ago 
from  the  hands  of  a  brutal  costermonger  who  persisted 
in  ill-treatiug  the  animal  by  putting  it  to  the  hard- 
est labor  possible  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  it  was 
nearly  forty  years  old. 

MAN  ENTERING  ON  HIS  DOMINION. 

The  early  command  to  Adam  and  Eve  recorded  in 
the  book  of  Genesis,  where  God  declares  that  they 
shall  enter  into  possession  of  the  earth  and  have 
dominion  over  it,  is  being  more  rapidly  fulfilled  in 
our  own  time  than  in  any  other.  Vast  as  the  scheme 
was  to  harness  Niagara  for  the  production  of  electric 
power,  work  has  commenced  upon  a  still  larger 
scheme  of  water-power  development  near  Massena, 
on  the  St.  Lawrence  River.  It  is  intended  to  develop 
here  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  horse-power,  by 
taking  advantage  of  the  difference  in  level  between 
the  St.  Lawrence  River  and  the  Grass  River,  which 
flows  nearly  parallel  to  it  at  a  distance  of  only  three 


344  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

and  one-half  miles.  A  linge  canal  is  to  be  cut  across 
the  intervening  plateau,  and  a  fall  of  water,  fifty 
feet  in  height,  thus  obtained  on  the  banks  of  the 
Grass  Kiver.  The  latter  river  will  itself  form  the 
tail-race  of  the  power-station.  This  scheme  dwarfs 
the  Niagara  one,  since  not  only  do  the  plans  provide 
for  a  greater  amount  of  power,  but  man  is  going  to 
do  what  nature  has  done  for  him  at  Niagara,  namely, 
provide  the  waterfall.  The  necessary  capital  for 
carrying  out  this  scheme  has  been  provided,  work  has 
been  commenced,  and  it  is  hoped  that  some  of  the 
turbines  and  dynamos  will  be  working  by  December, 
1898.  This  will  be  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
achievements  of  the  century. 

THE   BEST    OF    THE    WINE    FOR    THE    LAST  OF 
THE  FEAST. 

The  world  puts  the  best  goods  in  the  shop  window, 
but  it  seems  to  be  God's  order  that  things  shall  get 
better  as  we  go  on.  Coal  is  better  than  wood ;  the 
oil-lamp  is  better  than  candles ;  gas  is  better  than  oil, 
and  electricity  better  than  all;  and  now  it  seems  that 
some  of  those  countries  that  have  been  among  the 
last  to  come  under  the  sway  of  man  are  to  prove  the 
richest  and  the  most  beautiful.  The  wild  flowers 
of  the  Cape,  in  South  Africa,  are  among  the  finest 
in  the  world,  and  the  gunner,  as  he  quits  his  night's 
resting-place  and  wanders  among  the  hills,  may  see 
around  him  a  marvelous  array.  Oxalis,  lilies,  bril- 
liant orchids,  strelitzias,  the  wonderful  blue  agapan- 


CHRISTIAN  GRACES.  345 

thus,  the  wild  aurum — so  common  as  to  be  called  by 
the  Boers  the  "  pig  lily" — splendid  heaths  in  a  be- 
wildering plenty,  lovely  proteas,  many  flowering 
shrubs,  gladioli,  ixias,  noble  amaryllis — these  and  a 
hundred  other  flowers  contribute  for  a  season  to  the 
hunter's  supreme  enjoyment.  He  must  be  worse 
than  a  KaflBr  if  he  can  not  take  delight  in  them. 
Here  a  mountain-side  is  to  be  seen  fairly  blushing 
with  pink  heath — one  of  the  three  hundred  and  odd 
heaths  of  which  the  Cape  can  boast.  Innumerable 
wild  doves  coo  softly  from  the  thorny  acacia-groves, 
and  as  you  pass  the  clear  rill  of  water,  gushing  from 
a  deep  kloof,  a  little  crested  kingfisher  with  mazarine- 
blue  back  and  blue-and-black  crest  darts  like  some 
living  gem  up  the  stream. 

CHRISTIAN  GRACES  IN  THE  MIDST  OF  WORLD- 
LINESS. 

When  the  child  of  God  is  led  in  the  path  of  duty 
there  is  no  place  so  full  of  temptation,  or  so  unpro- 
pitious  to  righteousness,  but  that  the  graces  of  the 
Spirit  may  blossom  and  rebuke  the  wickedness  sur- 
rounding them,  John  Muir,  the  great  California 
naturalist,  declares  that  the  most  unspoiled  natural 
flower  gardens  of  the  continent  are  on  the  vast  tundras 
of  Alaska.  Every  summer  they  extend  smooth,  even, 
undulating,  continuous  beds  of  flowers  and  leaves 
from  about  latitude  sixty -two  degrees  to  the  shores  of 
the  Arctic  Ocean.  Tenderly  tucked  in  beneath  downy 
snow  through   the   long   white  winter,   these   arctic 


346  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

flowers  make  haste  to  bloom  in  the  spring  without 
trying  to  grow^tall,  tho  some  rise  high  enough  to  ripple 
and  wave  in  the  wind,  and  display  masses  of  color — 
yellow,  purple,  and  blue — so  rich  that  thoy  look  like 
beds  of  rainbows,  and  are  visible  miles  and  miles 
away. 

LOSING  A  LIMB  TO  SAFE  LIFE, 

The  wisdom  of  plucking  out  a  right  eye  or  cutting 
off  a  right  arm  and  entering  into  life  blind  or  maimed 
rather  than  lose  all,  which  Christ  sets  forth  with  so 
much  clearness,  seems  to  run  through  the  instinct  of 
some  of  the  lower  animals.  The  Maine  woods  in  the 
winter  are  full  of  men  who  are  making  a  good  living 
by  trapping.  Most  of  the  traps  set  are  equipped 
with  stout  springs,  and  have  wide  flat  jaws  suitable 
for  holding  otters.  Tho  an  otter  is  not  a  hard  animal 
to  catch,  it  is  a  very  difficult  creature  to  hold.  Con- 
sequently special  traps  have  to  be  made  for  the  busi- 
ness. The  traps,  which  are  toothless,  having  wide 
jaws  that  pinch  without  cutting,  are  set  along  streams 
near  the  blow-holes  where  the  small  fish  congregate. 
If  possible,  a  trap  is  set  at  the  entrance  to  a  blow-hole 
and  concealed  with  a  light  covering  of  brush,  or  snow. 
A  long  chain  is  made  fast  to  the  ice,  so  the  animal 
can  not  get  away  with  the  trap,  and  a  ten-pound 
stone  is  attached  to  the  trap  for  the  purpose  of  drown- 
ing the  otter  when  it  plunges  into  the  water  after 
getting  caught.  Other  traps  are  set  in  swamps,  and 
baited  with  fresh  fish.  Here  the  traps  are  attached 
to  spring  poles  that  lift  the  otter  and  the  trap  high 


TRUE  COURTESY.  347 

in  the  air.  These  precautions  are  taken  because  an 
otter  will  eat  off  his  leg  and  set  himself  free  in  five 
minutes  after  he  is  caught,  unless  he  is  placed  in  a 
position  where  he  is  unable  to  bite. 

TRUE  COURTESY. 

There  is  no  sweeter  grace  to  soften  the  rough  edges 
of  daily  life  than  the  grace  of  courtesy.  It  sits  with 
great  beauty  on  strong  characters.  Martha  Littlefield 
Phillips,  a  great-granddaughter  of  Gen.  Nathanael 
Greene  of  Eevolutionary  times,  relates  a  very  inter- 
esting story  of  Washington,  which  is  new.  Early  on 
a  bright  December  morning,  a  droll-looking  old  coun- 
tryman called  to  see  the  President.  In  the  midst  of 
their  interview,  breakfast  was  announced,  and  the 
President  invited  the  visitor,  as  was  his  hospitable 
habit  on  sui3h  occasions,  to  a  seat  beside  him  at  the 
table.  The  visitor  drank  his  coffee  from  his  saucer ; 
but  lest  any  grief  should  come  to  the  snowy  damask, 
he  laboriously  scraped  the  bottom  of  his  cup  on  the 
saucer's  edge  before  setting  it  down  on  the  table- 
cloth. He  did  this  with  such  audible  vigor  that  it 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  other  guests,  among 
whom  were  several  young  people  always  on  the  alert 
for  occasions  of  laughter.  These  young  folks  were  so 
indiscreet  as  to  allow  their  amusement  to  become 
obvious.  General  Washington  took  in  the  situation, 
and  immediately  adopted  his  visitor's  method  of 
drinking  his  coffee,  making  the  scrape  even  more  pro- 
nounced than  the  one  he  produced.  The  disposition 
to  laugh  was  quenched  at  once. 


348  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 


GIVING  ACCOUNT  FOR  OUR  TALENTS. 

In  childhood  and  youth  we  are  all  furnished  with 
a  certain  hopefulness  and  courage  that  belong  to  in- 
nocence, and  with  talents  that  are  our  peculiar  trust. 
When  life  is  over  we  must  face  these  again  and  give 
an  account  as  to  how  we  have  used  them.  A  touch- 
ing and  poetical  custom  prevails  in  the  Welsch  Tyrol. 
When  a  young  maiden  is  about  to  be  married,  imme- 
diately before  she  steps  across  the  threshold  of  her 
old  home,  on  her  way  to  church,  her  mother  solemnly 
gives  her  a  new  pocket-handkerchief.  The  bride 
holds  it  in  her  hand  throughout  the  marriage  cere- 
mony, using  it  to  wipe  away  her  tears.  As  soon  as 
the  marriage  festivities  are  ended  the  young  wife  lays 
the  handkerchief  aside  in  her  linen-closet,  and  there 
it  remains  as  long  as  she  lives.  Nothing  could  induce 
a  Tyrolese  wife  to  use  this  sacred  handkerchief.  It 
may  be  half  a  century,  or  longer,  before  it  is  taken 
from  its  place  to  fulfil  the  second  and  last  part  of  its 
mission.  When  the  wife  dies,  perhaps  as  a  gray  old 
grandmother,  the  loving  hands  of  the  next-of-kin 
place  the  bridal  handkerchief  over  the  face  of  the 
dead,  and  it  is  buried  with  her  in  the  grave. 

TRACES  OF  THE  DIVINE  IMAGE. 

One  is  often  astonished  to  see  men  whose  lives  are 
wicked  and  openly  profane  and  ungodly,  who  will 
still  frequent  the  house  of  God,  and  be  often  moved 


DORMANT  SEEDS.  349 

by  some  simple  story  of  affection,  or  some  song  of  the 
old  worship  of  their  childhood.  Surely  there  are 
traces  of  the  divine  image  not  yet  altogether  destroyed 
by  a  life  of  sin.  Wild  dogs  are  overrunning  the 
mountain  and  valley  country  along  the  line  between 
New  Mexico  and  the  Apache  country,  Arizona.  The 
animals  are  apparently  the  descendants  of  domesti- 
cated dogs  that  have  mingled  with  the  mountain 
wolves  until  they  have  produced  a  new  variety — part 
wolf  and  part  dog.  The  creatures  have  the  head  and 
shoulders  of  the  bulldog,  with  the  body,  movement, 
and  characteristics  of  the  gray  mountain  wolf.  They 
look  to  be  about  a  hundred  pounds  in  weight,  and  in 
color  they  are  of  an  ashen  gray,  with  patches  of  long 
black  hair.  A  horseman  they  will  follow  for  miles 
through  the  forests,  but  this  action  is  apparently  the 
survival  of  the  domestic  dog's  instinct.  They  some- 
times visit  isolated  ranches,  and  when  they  do  the 
ranch  dogs,  unless  very  much  attached  to  their  mas- 
ters, are  apt  to  go  away  with  the  wild  dogs. 

DORMANT  SEEDS. 

Often  on  the  frontier,  when  the  plow  runs  deep  in 
the  virgin  soil,  it  turns  up  buried  seeds  that  grow  and 
blossom  in  a  verdure  entirely  unknown  before  in  the 
region.  So  it  is  probable  that  in  all  our  hearts  and 
minds  there  are  dormant  possibilities  which  only  re- 
quire the  proper  circumstances  to  cause  them  to  burst 
into  unexpected  development.  About  twenty  years 
ago  a  steam-packet  company  of  Liverpool  wished  to 


350  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

buy  a  piece  of  land  which  was  owned  by  a  "stay- 
at-home  spinster,"  as  her  neighbors  described  her. 
She  sold  her  land  at  a  very  low  price,  but  insisted 
upon  a  clause  being  inserted  in  the  agreement  giving 
her  the  right  at  any  time  during  her  life  to  travel 
with  a  companion  in  any  of  the  company's  vessels. 
When  the  agreement  was  closed,  she  sold  her  furni- 
ture and  went  on  board  the  first  outgoing  ship  belong- 
ing to  the  packet  company.  For  years  this  wise 
spinster  lived  nearly  all  the  time  upon  one  ship  or 
another,  frequently  accompanied  by  a  companion, 
who,  according  to  agreement,  was  always  a  person 
that  otherwise  would  have  been  a  regular  passenger, 
but  who  purchased  her  ticket  at  reduced  rates  by 
paying  the  spinster  instead  of  the  packet  company. 
The  company  offered  her  more  than  twice  the  value 
of  the  land  if  she  would  give  up  her  privilege ;  but 
this  she  would  not  do.  Her  reply  was :  "  You  got 
the  land  cheap,  and  I  like  sailing ;  so  you  ought  to 
be  satisfied." 

THE  BEAUTY  OF  HOLINESS, 

There  is  no  path  in  life  so  dark  but  that  the  Chris- 
tian graces,  growing  in  the  garden  of  the  heart,  may 
make  the  soul  like  an  oasis  in  the  desert.  The  keeper 
of  the  Point  Pinas  lighthouse  at  Monterey,  on  the 
Pacific  Coast,  is  a  woman.  When  Mrs.  Fish  entered 
upon  the  duties  of  her  office  she  found  the  lighthouse 
a  dreary  abode,  situated  as  it  was  far  from  any  neigh- 
boring houses  upon  the  gray  ocean  sands.     She  at 


THE  LOSS  OF  MANHOOD.  351 

once  began  transforming  it  into  a  more  homelike 
spot.  Within  she  added  warm  draperies,  rare  china, 
and  other  dainty  furnishings.  Without  she  inclosed 
a  large  garden,  and  made  it  a  brilliant,  fragrant 
spot.  About  its  boundaries  she  planted  the  native 
cypress,  which  is  found  nowhere  else  in  the  world. 
Behind  these  sheltering  trees  she  made  a  broad,  vel- 
vety lawn,  and  planted  tea-roses,  geraniums,  and 
other  fragrant  flowers.  On  the  warm,  sunny  days 
that  come  in  such  quick  succession  there,  this  garden, 
only  ninety  feet  above  the  sea,  and  overlooking  the 
vast,  blue  Pacific,  is  oue  of  the  prettiest,  most  ro- 
mantic, and  sightly  places  on  the  coast.  But  more 
careful  than  of  all  else  is  Mrs.  Fish  of  the  great  light 
intrusted  to  her  care.  Punctual  to  the  moment  the 
lamp  always  sends  its  rays  across  the  water,  and 
as  punctually  it  is  extinguished  when  the  stronger 
light  of  day  appears. 

THE  LOSS  OF  MANHOOD. 

One  of  the  greatest  tragedies  of  human  life  is  the 
way  sin,  when  persisted  in,  robs  its  victim  of  the 
free  spirit  of  manhood.  A  man  comes  at  last  to  hug 
his  chains  and  no  longer  aspires  to  the  free  air  of  a 
noble  life.  Frank  Jackson,  a  negro  serving  a  twenty- 
year  sentence  in  the  Missouri  Penitentiary,  refused  to 
accept  a  pardon  offered  him  by  the  Governor  of  the 
State.  Governor  Stephens  offered  to  give  the  man  a 
pardon  as  a  Thanksgiving  present,  according  to  the 
custom  of  selectmg  one  from  among  the  prisoners  for 


352  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

clemency  at  that  season.  The  prisoner  replied  that 
he  would  prefer  to  continue  his  stay  in  the  peniten- 
tiary. He  gave  as  his  reason  that  he  had  no  friends, 
no  money,  and  could  find  no  employment. 

DESERTED  ENTHUSIASMS. 

About  twenty -five  years  ago  a  farmer's  wife  in 
the  Province  of  Ontario  was  searching  the  woods  for 
a  cow  that  had  strayed,  and,  becoming  thirsty,  stooped 
to  get  a  drink  from  a  spring.  Slipping,  she  fell 
against  a  small,  loose  rock,  which  rolled  to  her  feet, 
and  which  proved  to  be  a  twenty-pound  nugget  of 
almost  pure  gold.  The  effect  of  that  accidental  find 
was  that  within  six  months  a  city  of  five  thousand 
inhabitants  was  built.  An  immense  quarry  of  purest 
white  marble  was  discovered  near  by,  and  the  city 
was  almost  entirely  built  of  marble.  This  town  of 
Bridgewater  is  the  only  city  in  the  world  that  has  a 
hotel,  church,  schoolhouse,  court-house,  and  the  ma- 
jority of  its  dwellings  constructed  entirely  of  white 
marble.  Strange  to  say,  tho  vast  sums  of  money 
were  spent  in  search  ^  no  other  gold  of  any  amount 
was  ever  taken  from  this  region,  and  the  city  has 
been  depopulated  and  stands  deserted.  How  many 
worldly  enthusiasms  are  like  that !  Who  of  us  can 
not  look  back  over  his  past  and  see  many  a  deserted 
village  along  the  way?  We  found  a  nugget  of  gold 
somewhere,  or  what  seemed  to  be  gold  to  us,  and  for 
a  time  we  threw  our  whole  heart  and  life  into  it,  only 
to  meet  with  disappointment,  and  that  which  prom- 


LOVE'S   WILLINGNESS  TO  SHARE  EXILE.  353 

ised  to  be  the  richest  find  iu  our  lives  is  remembered 
only  as  a  deserted  eiithusiasm.  There  is  only  one 
great  gold-mine  in  a  human  life,  where  a  man  may 
work  through  all  the  years  and  never  lose  his  courage, 
and  that  is  in  fidelity  to  God  and  loving  service 
toward  his  fellow  men. 


LOVE'S  WILLINGNESS  TO  SHARE  EXILE. 

While  former  Captain  Dreyfus,  the  disgraced 
French  army  officer,  is  passing  his  days  in  maddening 
solitude  on  Devil's  Island,  his  wife  is  making  every 
effort  to  join  him,  that  she  may  share  his  fate.  The 
political  prisoners  in  France  who  are  sent  into  exile 
are  usually  accorded  the  privilege  of  having  their 
wives  with  them  if  they  so  desire,  and  many  a  brave 
Frenchwoman  has  given  up  home  and  friends  and  has 
sacrificed  everything  to  be  near  her  husband  in  his 
time  of  tribulation.  Altho  Captain  Dreyfus  is  com- 
pelled to  live  in  an  iron  cage  entirely  cut  off  from  the 
outside  world,  Mme.  Dreyfus  is  not  only  willing  but 
eager  to  share  her  husband's  lot,  and  is  fully  pre- 
pared to  submit  to  the  same  rigorous  discipline  as 
that  imposed  upon  him.  How  speedily  we  could  cap- 
ture the  world  for  Christ  if  every  Christian  man  and 
woman  would  live  constantly  in  the  same  spirit  of 
devotion  and  fidelity  to  Jesus  which  this  heroic 
woman  is  showing  toward  her  husband!  The  church 
is  constantly  weakened  and  its  progress  prevented  by 
those  who  make  entangling  alliances  with  the  world, 
and  who  seek  to  be  more  popular  and  successful  than 
23 


364  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

they  could  be  if  they  were  true  to  Christ.  We  ought 
to  be  willing  to  go  into  exile  with  Jesus.  Where  the 
Master  is  not  welcome  is  no  proper  place  for  the  dis- 
ciple to  be  seeking  admission. 

CONSIDERATION  FOR  OTHERS. 

An  amusing  story  is  told  of  a  big,  burly  English 
bishop  who  entered  the  compartment  of  a  railway  car 
with  a  cigar  in  his  hand.  The  only  other  occupant 
of  the  compartment  was  a  gentle-spirited  little  country 
curate.  The  bishop  turned  to  his  companion  with  a 
pompous,  patronizing  air,  and  said :  "  You  will  not 
mind  my  smoking,  will  you?  "  "  Not  if  your  lordship 
doesn't  mind  my  being  sick,"  submissively  replied 
the  little  curate.  Perhaps  there  is  no  better  test  of 
genuine  Christian  breeding  than  the  fact  that  we  can 
not  bear  to  have  another  suffer  for  our  indulgence. 
The  genuine  Christian  gentleman  and  lady  can  do 
without  their  personal  pleasure,  or  the  luxury  of  hav- 
ing their  own  way,  but  they  can  not  do  without  the 
joy  of  making  life  sweeter  and  more  precious  to  those 
associated  with  them. 

TAMING  MEN. 

Pezon,  the  great  French  lion-tamer,  owed  his  suc- 
cess to  the  use  of  electricity  in  taming  his  beasts. 
When  a  wild  lion  or  tiger  was  to  be  tamed,  live  wires 
were  first  rigged  up  in  the  cage  between  the  tamer 
and  the  animal.     After  a  time  Pezon  would  turn  his 


TAKING  RISKS  FOR  CHRIST'S  SAKE.     355 

back,  and  the  wild,  treacherous  creature  would  in- 
variably make  a  leap  at  him ;  but,  encountering  the 
charged  wires,  would  receive  a  paralyzing  shock  suf- 
ficient to  terrorize  it  forever.  This  lesson  would 
rarely  have  to  be  repeated,  as  the  mysterious  shock 
was  not  readily  forgotten.  There  have  been  a  great 
many  efforts  in  the  history  of  mankind  to  tame  the 
human  heart  in  some  such  way,  but  they  have  never 
succeeded.  The  Christian  way  is  to  take  the  wild 
and  wicked  spirit  entirely  out  of  a  man's  nature. 
Christ  met  a  man  in  Gadara  of  whom  it  was  said  that 
he  could  not  be  tamed.  Every  effort  had  been  made, 
and  every  device  to  cure  him  by  fear  had  been  ex- 
hausted. But  when  he  met  Jesus  the  Lord  he  sent 
the  devils  away  from  him,  and  then  he  was  tame 
enough.  He  sat  in  the  presence  of  the  Master 
clothed  and  in  his  right  mind.  The  tiger-spirit  of 
sin  must  be  taken  out  of  the  heart. 

TAKING  RISKS  FOR  CHRIST'S  SAKE. 

The  risks  which  men  take  in  the  interests  of 
science  are  frequently  very  great.  Many  of  the  col- 
leges and  scientific  societies  sent  expeditions  to  India 
to  observe  the  total  eclipse  of  the  sun.  The  journey 
could  not  be  made  without  great  hardship,  and  even 
risk  of  life,  and  after  all  the  danger  and  hardship  the 
total  eclipse  lasted  but  two  minutes.  If  men  will  do 
that  much  for  the  sake  of  adding  ever  so  little  to  the 
sum  of  human  intelligence,  how  willing  should  we 
be,  who  realize  the  value  of  an  immortal  soul  and  the 


356  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

joy  and  salvation  which  may  come  to  it  in  Jesus 
Christ,  to  risk  our  ease  and  even  our  lives  to  carry 
the  good  news  of  his  salvation  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth. 

THE  KEEN  PERCEPTIONS  OF  CHILDHOOD. 

When  Dr.  Nansen  was  on  his  famous  trip  toward 
the  North  Pole,  and  the  time  had  long  passed  when 
his  wife  had  expected  to  hear  from  him,  the  suspense 
became  so  terrible  that  her  family  decided  it  was 
best  for  her  that  her  husband's  name  should  never  be 
mentioned  before  her.  But  with  her  little  girl  it  was 
most  difficult  to  use  any  silencing  persuasion.  She 
wished  to  talk  of  her  papa  constantly,  until  her  baby 
perceptions  were  made  to  see  that  at  every  mention 
of  his  name  her  mother  suffered  acutely.  Month 
after  month  passed  by,  and  little  Liv  kept  her  prom- 
ise bravely  until  one  morning,  on  meeting  her  mother 
in  the  garden,  she  ran  up  gleefully,  exclaiming: 
"Papa's  coming  home!  Papa's  coming  home!" 
Tears  and  remonstrances  had  no  effect  on  the  child, 
and,  lo  and  behold!  not  half  a  dozen  hours  after  her 
confident  assertion  word  ran  along  the  telegraph- 
wires  all  over  Europe  that  Dr.  Nansen  and  his  com- 
panion were  landed  safe  and  sound  in  Norway.  Of 
course  this  may  only  have  been  an  interesting  coin- 
cidence, but  we  know  that  in  a  spiritual  way  child- 
hood's perceptions  are  very  keen  and  sensitive.  It 
is  the  childlike  mind  to  which  we  need  to  bring  our- 
selves. There  is  a  world  of  meaning  in  Christ's 
selection  of  a  little  child  as  a  model  for  worshipers, 


THE  HEART'S  DEPTHS.  357 

and  his  declaration  that  we  must  come  to  him  in  the 
spirit  of  the  child  in  order  to  receive  the  blessings 
which  he  alone  can  bestow  upon  us. 

THE  HEART'S  DEPTHS. 

There  is  an  island  in  the  North  Sea  called  Kel- 
dive,  which  contains  perhaps  the  most  curious  lake  in 
the  world.  The  surface  of  its  waters  is  quite  fresh, 
and  supports  fresh-water  creatures  and  fresh-water 
vegetation ;  but  deep  down  it  is  as  salt  as  the  bluest 
depths  of  the  sea,  and  sponges  and  salt-water  fish  live 
and  have  their  being  there,  to  the  despair  of  scien- 
tists. Nansen  found  much  the  same  thing  on  his  ex- 
pedition while  drifting  across  the  Polar  Sea.  He 
would  often  be  able  to  get  entirely  fresh  water  on  the 
surface  of  the  sea,  but  down  a  few  feet  it  would  be 
brine.  There  are  many  people  that  are  a  good  deal 
like  that — men  and  women  who  have  been  reared  in 
the  midst  of  Christian  civilization,  and  whose  conduct 
has  been  so  largely  influenced  by  Christian  standards 
that  they  seem  to  the  casual  observer  to  be  as  good  as 
Christians.  Such  people  often  congratulate  them- 
selves that  they  are  as  righteous  as  their  genuine, 
whole-hearted  Christian  neighbors,  but  it  is  only  the 
surface  water  that  is  fresh  and  sweet  with  Christianity. 
If  some  sudden  emergency  arises  or  there  comes  some 
heart-probing  test  that  stirs  them  to  the  profound 
depths,  the  salt  brine  of  enmity  against  God  and  re- 
jection of  Christ's  rule  comes  to  the  top.  What  a 
man  is  in  the  depths  of  his  heart  he  will  some  time 


358  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

come  to  be  throughout.  The  whole  heart  must  be 
sweet  with  the  Christly  spirit  or  else  all  will  some 
day  be  mastered  by  the  brine  of  sin. 

COINING  BETTER  IDEAS  OF  LIFE. 

That  nobler  ideas  of  brotherhood  are  prevailing, 
and  that  peace  and  good  will  are  growing  in  the  world 
in  spite  of  all  the  rumors  of  wars  and  evidences  of 
human  jealousies,  is  seen  everywhere.  The  new 
French  piece  of  fifty  centimes  has  a  fine  conception  of 
France  in  the  allegorical  figure  of  La  Semeuse,  and 
perhaps  the  allegory  will  become  more  and  more  the 
device  of  future  coinage.  The  artist  has  represented 
the  French  Republic  as  the  sower  who  went  forth  sow- 
ing, "  throwing  from  the  full  hands  the  future  harvest 
into  the  furrows  of  the  world — the  seed  which  will 
flourish  generations  to  come. "  France  wears  a  Phryg- 
ian cap,  her  hair  and  garments  float  free  in  the 
breeze,  and  the  sun  is  rising  at  her  right  hand.  The 
attitude  is  admirable  in  its  energy,  freedom,  and 
power.  On  the  reverse  side,  the  symbolism — a  sim- 
ple olive-branch — speaks  of  peace  and  good  will. 

THE  CROAKER. 

A  strange  story  of  a  frog  comes  from  the  historic 
old  Ritchie  place  in  Kentucky.  There  is  on  the 
place  an  old  log  spring-house,  built  at  the  beginning 
of  the  century.  A  never-failing  stream  of  ice-cold 
water  flows  into  this  old  house,  forming  a  pool  several 


KEEP  THE  ROOF  GOOD.  359 

feet  deep.  Here  it  is  alleged  a  giant  bull-frog  has 
had  its  home  since  the  house  was  built.  As  the  frog 
family  is  endowed  with  great  longevity,  it  is  said,  by 
those  who  ought  to  know,  that  it  is  reasonable  to  be- 
lieve that  the  frog  is  the  same  one  which  took  up  its 
residence  in  the  Eitchie  spring-house  in  pioneer  times. 
What  lends  color  to  this  theory  is  the  fact  that  there 
has  never  been  but  one  frog  seen  in  the  neighborhood 
of  the  old  spring,  and  Mr.  Stephen  Eitchie,  now  a 
man  well  advanced  in  years,  states  that  this  same 
frog,  or  one  very  similar  to  it,  had  its  home  in  the 
spring  when  he  was  a  child,  and  that  he  has  often 
heard  his  grandmother  term  the  frog  her  rain-sign. 
This  frog  is  said  to  be  of  vast  proportions,  and  to 
croak  away  year  after  year  with  a  thunderous  voice 
that  can  be  heard  a  great  distance.  The  old  croakers 
seem  to  be  long-lived.  Their  wailing  notes,  always 
telling  of  storms  of  trouble,  may  be  heard  in  every 
community  and  in  every  church.  Perhaps  they  are 
necessary  to  try  the  nerves  and  patience  of  working 
saints. 

KEEP  THE  ROOF  GOOD, 

A  heavy  rainstorm  not  long  ago  forcibly  demon- 
strated that  the  roof  of  the  National  Capitol  was 
sorely  in  need  of  repair.  There  were  leaks  in  half  a 
dozen  places.  In  the  rotunda  two  of  the  frescoes,  the 
"  Landing  of  Columbus  "  and  the  "  Burial  of  De  Soto 
in  the  Mississippi,"  were  damaged  by  a  stream  of 
dirty  water,  and  several  of  the  historic  paintings  were 
threatened  by  the  water  dripping  from  the  roof  through 


360  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

a  crevice  dangerously  near  them.  In  some  places  the 
water  came  through  so  fast  that  an  attendant  was  sta- 
tioned near  some  valuable  paintings  to  mop  up  the 
water  and  keep  the  pictures  from  damage.  Perhaps 
there  are  some  people  who  would  say  we  might  apply 
this  to  Congress  itself,  and  suggest  the  danger  of 
leakage,  by  way  of  bitter  partizanship,  political  dema- 
gogery,  and  legislation  for  selfish  ends,  that  threatens 
the  most  sacred  treasures  of  the  republic.  But  there 
is  also  a  personal  lesson  for  us.  It  is  possible  for  us 
so  to  draw  over  our  heads  the  truth  of  God's  Word 
that  its  waterproof  promises  will  protect  us  in  any 
storm  that  may  beat  above  us.  The  Psalmist  says : 
"  The  law  of  the  Lord  is  perfect,  converting  the  soul : 
the  testimony  of  the  Lord  is  sure,  making  wise  the 
simple.  The  statutes  of  the  Lord  are  right,  rejoicing 
the  heart :  the  commandment  of  the  Lord  is  pure,  en- 
lightening the  eyes.  The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  clean, 
enduring  forever :  the  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true 
and  righteous  altogether. "  There  are  some  tiles  which 
will  make  a  roof  that  the  storms  of  life  may  beat  upon 
in  vain. 

DRUNKEN  BEES. 

It  is  said  that  the  honey  of  certain  flowers  has  an 
intoxicating  effect  on  bees.  But  honey  may  also  be 
changed  into  alcohol.  In  former  days  it  was  the 
source  of  the  chief  intoxicating  drink  in  England,  as 
well  as  other  countries.  It  is  believed  that  honey  is 
sometimes  thus  transformed  while  still  in  the  flower. 
Germs  of  fermentation  are  ever  floating  about  iu  the 


DOING  HONOR  TO  PARENTS.  361 

air,  and  may  settle  down  in  the  honey-cups  which 
form  the  feeding-ground  of  the  bee.  The  sweet  juice 
being  changed  to  alcohol,  the  bee  finds  there  a  way- 
side tavern.  Jean  Ingelow  must  have  had  reference 
to  this  when  she  sang : 

"  Crowds  of  bees  are  giddy  with  clover.  " 

Keats  also  writes  of — 

"Honeysuckles  full  of  clear  bee-wine.  " 

Edgar  Allan  Poe  speaks  of  the  intoxicating  influence 
of  the  blue  flowers  of  sephalica : 

"  It  still  remaineth,  torturing  the  bee 
With  madness,  and  unwonted  revelry.  " 

The  sweetest  honey  of  our  American  citizenship  is 
the  liberty  which  we  sip  from  our  free  institutions, 
but  when  it  ferments  and  changes  into  license  it 
becomes  a  deadly  liquor  that  endangers  all  our  civili- 
zation. 

DOING  HONOR  TO  PARENTS  BY  A  NOBLE  LIFE. 

The  writer  of  the  book  of  Proverbs  says  that  the 
father  of  a  righteous  child  shall  greatly  rejoice,  and 
that  the  father  and  the  mother  shall  be  glad  always 
in  the  remembrance  of  such  a  son.  In  no  way  can 
sons  or  daughters  more  highly  honor  the  parents  who 
have  toiled  and  sacrificed  to  obtain  for  them  oppor- 
tunities for  education  and  development,  than  to  live 
lives  noble  and  honorable  before  the  world.  Every 
good  deed  which  a  boy  performs  is  a  wreath  on  the 


362  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

brow  of  his  mother  and  is  treasured  up  in  the  father's 
heart  with  more  joy  than  if  the  deed  were  his  own. 
Who  doubts  that  the  parents  of  Lieutenant  Hobson 
feel  more  than  repaid  for  all  the  labor  of  love  ex- 
pended on  their  son's  preparation  for  his  career,  by 
the  one  deed  of  heroic  patriotism  which  has  made  his 
name  immortal?  But  in  the  quieter  ways  of  peace 
there  are  daily  opportunities  for  heroism  and  noble 
living  by  which  any  youth  may  do  honor  to  the  white 
hairs  that  grace  the  home  of  his  childhood. 

CITIZEN  SOLDIERS. 

A  Nashville  paper  says  that  the  mustering  in  of  a 
military  company  in  that  city  on  the  call  for  volun- 
teers to  go  to  Cuba  was  marked  by  an  incident  worthy 
of  the  noblest  age  of  patriotism.  At  the  last  moment 
one  man  was  lacking,  and  the  sergeants  were  out 
scouring  the  camp  for  some  one  to  take  the  place,  so 
that  the  entire  regiment  could  be  sworn  in.  Learn- 
ing the  need,  Captain  Beyland,  who  brought  down  an 
extra  company  which  had  to  be  distributed  among 
the  other  companies,  retired  to  his  tent  without  a 
word  to  the  other  officers,  who  were  standing  before 
the  men  anxiously  waiting  for  one  more  man  to  be 
found.  Hope  was  almost  gone,  when  an  erect  figure 
came  striding  toward  the  line.  When  he  came  in  full 
view,  some  one  said:  "It's  Captain  Beyland."  The 
young  man  marched  up  to  the  line  of  privates  and 
silently  but  determinedly  took  his  place  in  the  ranks. 
He  had  cut  off  his  shoulder-straps  and  he  took  the 


CAGED  HEADS.  363 

oath  as  a  private.  This  noble  act  thrilled  the  men, 
tho  there  was  no  demonstration  of  approval  from 
these  military  men.  The  colonel  of  the  regiment 
said :  "  It  is  just  what  we  might  have  looked  for  in 
a  man  like  Beyland."  We  need  men  like  that  in 
every  department  of  duty  as  citizens — not  men  only 
who  are  willing  to  wear  shoulder-straps,  but  men  with 
public  spirit  enough  to  do  ordinary  duty  in  the  ranks 
on  common,  prosaic  days. 

CAGED  HEADS. 

A  gentleman  who  went  out  with  Stanley  to  Africa 
took  with  him  a  number  of  bird-cages  in  which  he 
hoped  to  bring  back  some  specimens  of  the  rarer  birds 
of  the  interior.  Owing  to  the  death  of  one  of  his  car- 
riers, he  was  obliged  to  throw  away  the  bird-cages 
with  a  number  of  other  articles.  These  were  seized 
by  the  natives  in  great  glee,  tho  they  did  not  know 
what  to  do  with  them ;  but  they  eventually  decided 
that  the  small  circular  cages  were  a  kind  of  headgear, 
and,  knocking  off  the  bottom,  the  chiefs  strutted  about 
in  them  with  evident  pride.  One  chief,  thinking 
himself  more  wise  than  the  others,  and  having  seen 
the  white  men  eat  at  table  out  of  dishes,  thought 
they  were  receptacles  for  food,  and  took  his  meals 
from  one,  ceremoniously  opening  and  shutting  the 
door  between  mouthfuls.  In  modern  political  life 
there  are  a  great  many  men  who  go  with  their  heads 
caged.  The  bosses  cage  their  followers,  and  they  are 
not  permitted  to  act,  talk,  or  vote  except  as  the  boss 


364  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

gives  permission.  One  of  the  saddest  features  of 
American  citizenship,  and  one  of  the  most  shameful, 
is  the  sight  of  intelligent  Christian  citizens  who  thrust 
their  heads  into  the  cage  of  some  party  boss,  and  go 
strutting  about  as  tho  they  thought  it  was  a  badge  of 
honor. 

THE  SORROW  FROM  DISLOYAL  CHILDREN. 

It  has  been  well  said  that  Job  was  spared  the  deep- 
est depth  of  bitterness :  he  never  knew  what  it  was  to 
have  a  wayward  and  disloyal  child.  His  sons  were 
honorable  and  respectable  men,  and  his  daughters 
were  the  fairest  and  most  delightful  women  in  the 
land.  They  were  kindly  and  gentle  with  one  another 
also,  and  often  visited  each  other  in  genial  fellowship. 
Poor  David  knew  a  more  profound  depth  of  sorrow 
than  ever  Job  knew.  When  he  lost  Absalom's  heart, 
and  the  lad  who  had  been  as  the  apple  of  his  eye  be- 
gan to  stir  up  sedition,  and  finally  treacherously  led 
an  open  revolt  against  him,  then  it  was  that  the  iron 
entered  David's  soul.  Who  can  tell  the  agony  of 
David — unless  he  has  gone  through  the  same  experi- 
ence?— when  the  news  came  of  Absalom's  death  at 
the  hand  of  Joab,  and  he  went  weeping  into  the  cham- 
ber over  the  gate,  crying  aloud:  "0  my  son  Absa- 
lom, my  son,  my  son  Absalom!  Would  God  I  had 
died  for  thee,  0  Absalom,  my  son,  my  son!" 

OPPORTUNITIES  FOR  HEROISM. 

Many  young  people  dream  that  life  would  have 
been  far  more  romantic  and  splendid  if  they  could 


OPPORTUNITIES  FOR  HEROISM.  365 

have  lived  in  some  other  age,  when  the  opportunities 
for  heroism  and  chivah-y  were  more  abundant.  All 
such  make  a  very  great  mistake.  In  the  very  nature 
of  things,  because  of  the  multiplication  of  mysterious 
forces  which  have  been  brought  into  action  in  our 
time,  this  is  the  most  romantic  age  the  world  ever 
saw.  Opportunities  for  heroism  are  always  happen- 
ing to  those  who  live  in  the  heroic  spirit.  In  New 
York  city  a  young  man  was  riding  along  on  his  wheel, 
when  he  saw  smoke  coming  from  the  windows  of 
a  tall  tenement-house.  He  stood  his  bicycle  against 
a  post  at  the  street  corner  and  hastened  to  climb 
the  narrow  stairs.  At  the  first  landing  he  met  an 
old  woman  groping  her  way  down  with  a  babe  in 
her  arms.  She  was  half  blinded  by  the  smoke.  He 
helped  her  to  the  lower  floor,  and  then  asked:  "Is 
there  any  one  else  in  the  building?"  "Yes,"  she  re- 
plied, "  the  two  little  children  of  the  janitor  are  on 
the  top  floor.  I  tried  to  get  them  to  follow  me  down, 
but  they  were  too  frightened."  Without  hesitation 
the  young  fellow  ran  up  the  three  flights  of  stairs 
through  the  blinding  smoke.  The  children  in  their 
fright  had  locked  the  door.  Putting  his  shoulders 
against  the  door,  he  burst  the  lock.  He  picked  up 
the  terror-stricken  children,  and  with  one  under  each 
arm  staggered  down  the  stairways,  and  handed  them 
over  to  their  mother,  who  had  been  away  from 
home,  and  had  just  returned  and  was  wringing  her 
hands  in  grief.  She  tried  to  thank  him  through  her 
tears,  but  he  only  smiled  and  said,  "It's  nothing," 
and  on  learning  that  there  was  no  one  left  in  the 


366  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

building,  mounted  his  bicycle  and  rode  away.  No 
one  will  ever  hear  a  young  man  of  that  spirit  talking 
about  life  not  being  worth  the  living.  And  yet  op- 
portunities to  do  the  same  kind  of  service  in  different 
ways  come  to  us  all  if  we  are  trying  to  live  helpful 
lives. 

ALL  IS  NOT  GOLD  THAT  GLITTERS. 

A  Frenchman  who  came  here  from  Paris  met  with 
a  very  sad  mishap.  He  brought  with  him  to  this 
country  10,000  francs,  which  was  all  his  fortune. 
He  met  at  his  boarding-house  an  affable  Spaniard, 
who,  after  he  had  made  friends  with  the  Frenchman, 
borrowed  his  money,  giving  him  five  gold  bricks  as 
security.  Then  the  Spaniard  went  away,  and  the 
Frenchman  took  his  bricks  to  a  jeweler,  who  on  inves- 
tigating found  that  they  were  composed  of  copper, 
tin,  and  zinc,  without  one  particle  of  gold.  The  de- 
spair of  the  poor  Frenchman  when  he  discovered  that 
he  had  been  swindled  out  of  all  his  little  fortune  was 
very  sad  to  behold.  But  how  many  are  deceived  in  a 
similar  manner.  Men  and  women  invest  all  their 
time  and  talent  in  glittering  and  delusive  treasures 
which  promise  happiness  and  peace,  but  when  one 
needs  to  realize  on  them  they  are  only  a  base  alloy. 
Many  who  have  been  thus  deceived  are  crying  out  that 
life  is  not  worth  the  living,  and  the  newspapers  every 
day  tell  the  story  of  those  who  have  wickedly  put  an 
end  to  their  lives  because  they  had  not  the  courage  to 
rise  out  of  their  defeats.  But  those  who  live  genuine 
lives,  doing  the  will  of  God  with  honest  hearts,  and 


BE  CAREFUL  OF  THE  ATMOSPHERE.      367 

seeking  always  to  please  him,  do  not  find  life  a  cheat. 
All  such  find  life  worth  the  living,  and  have  heaven 
added  as  a  crown  of  glory  which  fadeth  not  away. 

BE  CAREFUL  OF  THE  ATMOSPHERE. 

In  one  of  the  large  New  York  slaughter-houses  a 
man  while  at  work  in  a  deep  tank  was  overcome  by 
ammonia,  and  two  companions  who  went  to  his  rescue 
fell  senseless  from  the  stifling  fumes.  The  tank  is 
one  of  several  in  which  refrigerating  pipes  holding  am- 
monia are  placed.  Each  tank  is  about  twelve  feet 
wide  and  fifteen  feet  deep.  It  is  a  Board  of  Health 
regulation  that  the  interior  of  these  tanks  shall  be 
painted  once  a  year.  A  man  can  not  remain  in  a 
tank  more  than  four  minutes  because  of  the  fumes, 
and  when  j:.he  bottom  is  reached  two  minutes  is  as 
long  as  a  workman  can  remain  there.  In  this  case 
four  men  were  painting  one  of  the  tanks.  The  first 
man  who  entered  had  been  down  only  a  minute  when 
he  fell  unconscious.  One  of  the  others  slid  down  the 
ladder  to  his  aid,  and  in  trying  to  raise  the  first  was 
himself  overcome  by  the  fumes.  A  third  workman 
shouted  the  alarm,  and  then  descended  to  rescue  the 
two  other  men.  Einployees  of  the  slaughter-house 
crowded  to  the  tank,  and  found  all  three  senseless. 
They  were  quickly  rescued,  but  the  rescuers  them- 
selves staggered  out  half  stupefied  by  the  horrible 
fumes.  It  is  awful  to  have  to  work  in  a  place  like 
that ;  but  it  is  still  more  terrible  when  men  unneces- 
sarily thrust  themselves  into  wicked  and  impure  asso- 


368  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

ciations,  and  place  themselves  in  a  position  to  be 
poisoned  in  mind  and  heart  by  fumes  that  come  from 
the  very  mouth  of  the  pit.  Better  to  breathe  the 
fumes  of  ammonia  than  to  stupefy  the  soul  with  the 
stench  of  salacious  conversation.  Well  does  Wisdom 
cry :  "  Forsake  the  foolish  and  live ;  and  go  in  the 
way  of  understanding. " 

A  PUG-DOG'S  TESTIMONY  IN  COURT. 

A  strange  thing  happened  in  Trenton,  N.  J.,  in  a 
law  case  which  was  on  trial  there.  A  pug-dog  was 
the  main  witness,  and  the  entire  suit  turned  on  his 
testimony.  He  was  not  sworn  in,  either.  The  judge 
and  jury  depended  on  the  dog  being  true  to  his  in- 
stinct. It  was  a  case  where  a  dog  had  been  stolen 
and  sold,  and  a  suit  for  damages  was  brought  against 
the  one  who  had  possession  of  the  dog.  The  dog  was 
brought  into  the  courtroom  in  a  wicker  basket,  which 
was  placed  on  the  table  and  the  lid  lifted.  The  pug 
jumped  out,  looked  carefully  around  the  room,  and 
then  made  a  dash  for  his  owner,  from  whom  he  had 
been  stolen,  and  leaping  into  her  lap  covered  her  face 
with  affectionate  kisses.  No  further  testimony  was 
offered,  and  tho  two  witnesses  had  testified  that  the 
dog  belonged  to  another  person,  the  evidence  won 
the  case  against  them.  This  is  a  signal  illustration 
of  how,  when  people  are  free  to  do  as  they  please, 
their  inner  desire  will  dictate  destiny.  Phillips 
Brooks,  in  one  of  his  greatest  sermons,  declared  that 
the  freeing  of  souls  is  the  judging  of  souls,  and  that 


FOR  LOVE'S  SAKE.  369 

in  the  day  of  judgment  it  will  only  be  necessary  to  lift 
off  all  the  restraints  that  bind  us  to  the  good  or  bad, 
and  then  the  people  who  love  pure  things  and  noble 
things  will  mount  up  to  heaven,  and  those  who  in 
their  hearts  love  what  is  filthy  and  wicked  will  go 
down  to  hell.  It  is  a  serious  thought,  but  it  is  fear- 
fully logical. 

CAUGHT  UNDER  ONE'S  OWN  SAIL. 

A  boat  was  capsized  off  Eockaway,  L.  1.,  and  five 
men  were  shipwrecked.  Four  of  them  were  thrown 
clear  of  the  boat,  and  were  rescued,  but  one  man  was 
caught  under  the  sail  of  the  boat,  and  drowned  before 
he  could  be  reached.  His  struggles  under  the  sail 
were  indicated  by  the  heaving  canvas,  and  grew  less 
and  less  marked  until  they  ceased  with  his  death. 
After  all,  it  is  not  an  uncommon  thing  to  see  a  man 
on  the  voyage  of  life  who  is  capsized  by  carrying  too 
much  sail  in  the  wind,  and  is  drowned  because  he  is 
entangled  in  ambitious  and  worldly  ways  that  drag 
him  down  to  destruction.  There  is  a  safe  Pilot  who 
is  ever  willing  to  come  on  board  with  us,  and  where 
he  goes  it  is  always  secure. 

FOR   LOVE'S  SAKE. 

In  a  Brooklyn  court  the  following  conversation  took 
place  between  the  judge  and  the  prisoner. 

The  judge,  having  looked  long  and  earnestly  at  the 

prisoner,  said:     " ,  you  don't  look  like  a  thief. 

I  have  investigated  your  case.  You  have  a  good  sis- 
24 


370  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

ter,  who  has  pleaded  for  you.     You  have  a  sweetheart, 
and  she,  too,  has  begged  me  to  be  lenient  with  you. 
You  are  engaged  to  be  married,  are  you  not?  " 
"  Yes,  your  honor,"  sobbed  the  young  fellow. 
"  How  long  have  you  been  engaged?  " 
'^  A  year  and  two  months,  your  honor." 
"Well, ,"  said  the  judge,  "on    your  sweet- 
heart's account  I  will  suspend  sentence,  if  you  will 
promise  to  behave." 

Love  is  the  magical  power  of  the  universe.  "  God 
is  love."  Therefore  the  highest  measure  of  power 
belongs  to  us  when  the  spirit  of  love  masters  and  con- 
trols our  lives.  If  we  do  our  work  for  love's  sake, 
nothing  can  stand  against  us. 

SHOUT  THE  GOOD  TIDINGS. 

A  lawyer  in  New  York  City  has  received  instruc- 
tions from  Havre,  France,  to  find  a  young  man  who 
ran  away  from  home  and  went  to  England,  and  after- 
ward came  to  America,  where  he  became  a  vagabond 
tramp.  A  fortune  has  come  to  this  young  tramp,  and 
it  is  desired  that  he  shall  come  home  and  enter  into 
his  inheritance.  The  newspaper  telling  the  story  says 
the  lawyer  does  not  believe  in  advertising,  and  is  seek- 
ing to  find  his  client  in  a  very  quiet  way.  If  the  poor 
tramp  should  not  be  heard  of  for  a  good  while,  and  in 
the  mean  time  should  be  suffering  want,  he  will  hardly 
thank  that  lawyer  for  his  quiet,  conservative  ways. 
He  will  be  likely  to  inquire  why  he  did  not  advertise 
for  him  everywhere,  and  bring  the  good  news  to  his 


USING  OUR  CAPITAL  TO  INCREASE  IT.    371 

attention  as  speedily  as  possible.  One  reason  why 
the  church  does  not  bear  more  fruit  in  the  salvation  of 
souls  than  it  does  is  because  a  great  many  churches 
have  the  same  quiet,  conservative  ways,  and  do  not 
seem  to  appreciate  the  fact  that  they  have  news  of  a 
rich  inheritance  for  every  poor  sinner  who  walks  the 
streets.  Every  church  ought  to  be  full  of  advertise- 
ments for  lost  men  and  women  who  have  strayed  away 
from  the  rich  inheritance  that  waits  for  them.  It  is 
not  so  much  how  we  get  the  news  to  people,  as  to 
make  sure  that  we  do  not  fail  to  reach  them  with  it. 
I  would  rather  see  the  notice  of  a  fortune  coming  to 
me  in  a  penny  paper  than  to  have  a  high-salaried  de- 
tective hunting  for  me  in  a  palace  car  foi  ten  years. 
Let  us  shout  the  good  tidings  everywhere ! 

USING  OUR  CAPITAL  SO  AS  TO  INCREASE  IT. 

The  deepest  well  in  the  world  is  being  bored  near 
Pittsburg,  Pa.  It  is  now  more  than  one  mile  deep, 
and  when  finished  it  may  reach  down  two  miles  into 
the  earth.  It  is  being  bored  in  the  interests  of  sci- 
ence. The  object  in  penetrating  so  deeply  is  to  deter- 
mine just  what  the  interior  of  the  earth  is  like.  From 
a  commercial  point  of  view  the  well  was  a  success  long 
ago ;  a  comparatively  few  feet  below  the  surface  both 
gas  and  oil  were  struck  in  paying  quantities ;  but  the 
company  owning  the  plant  determined  to  dedicate  it 
to  science,  and  invited  Prof.  William  Hallock,  of 
Columbia  College,  to  carry  on  a  series  of  temperature 
investigations  as  the  hole  is  carried  deeper  and  deeper 


372  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

into  the  earth.  That  which  interests  me  specially  in 
the  experiment  is  that  the  gas  found  near  the  surface 
is  now  used  to  operate  the  powerful  engines  which  do 
the  drilling.  Thus  the  natural  power  already  issuing 
from  the  well  is  utilized  for  the  purpose  of  deepening 
it.  That  should  suggest  to  us  the  true  way  for  a 
Christian  to  deepen  his  religious  experience.  If  we 
will  put  the  joy  and  comfort  already  received  into 
Christian  work,  we  shall  find  that  it  is  constantly  en- 
larged and  strengthened. 

PASSING  OPPORTUNITIES. 

A  horse,  that  was  hitched  to  a  carriage  in  which 
were  a  father  and  his  three-year-old  child,  took  fright 
in  Elizabeth,  N.  J.  In  trying  to  stop  the  runaway 
horse  the  father  was  thrown  out.  The  child  remained 
in  the  buggy  until  a  front  wheel  struck  a  lamp-post. 
The  shock  brought  the  horse  to  a  standstill,  and  shot 
the  child  into  the  air  as  if  from  a  catapult.  The  lit- 
tle one  was  only  a  few  feet  from  the  windows  of  a 
large  drug-store,  and  was  thrown  straight  at  them,  but 
while  in  the  air  a  young  man  standing  in  front  of  the 
store,  with  wonderful  presence  of  mind,  threw  up  his 
arms  in  that  single  moment  of  opportunity,  and,  catch- 
ing the  child,  saved  its  life.  The  force  with  which 
the  child  was  moving  threw  the  young  man  and  his 
burden  against  the  window,  but  neither  of  them  was 
hurt.  Many  of  the  opportunities  of  life,  both  for 
doing  and  receiving  good,  come  to  us  in  that  way. 
We  must  catch  them  on  the  fly  if  we  grasp  them  at 


TAMPERING   WITH  SIN.  373 

all.  As  there  will  be  little  time  to  meditate  when  the 
opportunity  comes,  we  ought  to  live  in  the  spirit  which 
will  cause  us  to  make  right  decisions  at  the  opportune 
moment. 

TAMPERING  WITH  SIN. 

A  young  lady  in  Morristown,  N.  J.,  grasped  the 
guy-wire  on  the  electric-light  pole  in  front  of  her 
father's  house,  to  see  if  she  could  get  a  slight  shock. 
Her  hand  was  suddenly  contracted  by  a  powerful  cur- 
rent which  swept  through  her  body.  The  young  girl 
screamed  in  agony.  She  writhed  and  twisted  and 
fell  to  the  ground,  but  she  could  not  relax  her  hold 
upon  the  live  wire,  which  was  burning  her  hands,  for 
she  had  reached  up  with  her  left  to  tear  her  right 
hand  away.  Men  and  boys  ran  toward  her,  biit  not 
one  dared  to  put  out  a  hand  to  save  the  girl.  Then 
her  mother  ran  out.  "Oh,  mamma,"  cried  the  girl, 
"  save  me!  My  hands  are  burning  up!"  The  mother 
quickly  grasped  her  daughter  around  the  waist,  but 
she  was  hurled  to  the  ground  as  if  by  the  blow  of  a 
club.  Finally  a  man  came  up  with  presence  of  mind 
enough  to  take  an  ax  and  sever  the  wire.  He  was  in 
time  to  save  the  girl's  life,  but  she  was  fearfully 
burned.  The  incident  suggests  tragedies  that  are 
taking  place  every  day  before  our  eyes.  Many  peo- 
ple are  willing  to  tamper  with  sin,  and  run  the  risk 
of  a  slight  shock.  A  boy  likes  to  drink  a  glass  of 
wine  that  will  make  his  nerves  tingle,  and  many  are 
asking  themselves.  How  far  can  I  go  in  the  wrong 
way  without  being  overthrown?     That  is  the  way  the 


374  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

devil  fishes  for  men  and  women.  People  grasp  his 
wires  and  get  a  slight  shock,  and  only  laugh  at  dan- 
ger; but  some  day  they  take  hold  of  a  live  wire,  that 
has  all  the  fire  of  hell  in  it,  and  they  are  struck  through 
and  through  with  death.  It  is  better  not  to  play  with 
the  devil's  wires  at  all. 


THE  POWER  OF  EXAMPLE. 

If  men  could  only  know  how  after  they  are  dead 
and  gone  their  weaknesses  and  their  follies  will  be 
seized  upon  and  used  as  an  example  for  harm,  many 
would  be  more  careful.  Could  there  be  a  more  strik- 
ing illustration  of  this  than  in  the  fact  that  a  Boston 
saloon-keeper  has  placed  in  his  saloon  window  a  bust 
of  Daniel  Webster  surrounded  with  liquor  bottles.  In 
that  way  he  keeps  before  the  minds  of  young  men 
passing  on  the  street  the  remembrance  that  Daniel 
Webster  was  not  a  total  abstainer,  and  was  sometimes 
overcome  by  liquor.  The  young  man  who  undertakes 
to  follow  Daniel  Webster's  example  in  tippling  is 
pretty  sure  not  to  follow  it  in  anything  else.  But  let 
the  saloon-keeper's  schemes  serve  to  put  us  all  on  our 
guard  as  to  the  example  we  are  setting. 

DEATH  IN  LIFE. 

The  workmen  in  tearing  down  some  furnaces  at  the 
Columbia  Tire  Works,  at  Anderson,  Ind.,  discovered 
a  chemical  wonder.  Sparrows,  in  attempting  to  fly 
across  the  great  chimneys  of  the  furnaces,  are  often 


RUN  TO  THE  RESCUE!  375 

overcome  with  the  heat  and  fall  as  though  dead.  A 
great  many  fall  into  the  furnaces.  The  workmen 
suddenly  came  upon  four  birds,  perfect  in  color  and 
eye  and  feather.  They  looked  as  though  they  had 
just  died,  but  when  touched  the  birds  were  found  to 
be  perfectly  carbonized  and  as  hard  as  flint.  Even 
the  tips  of  the  feathers  were  perfectly  tempered. 
The  chemical  conditions  which  brought  this  about  are 
a  mystery.  It  is  thought  that  a  small  vacuum  was 
formed  in  the  furnace  and  that  they  fell  into  this  and 
were  exposed  to  the  intense  heat.  They  had  evidently 
been  there  for  months.  I  have  seen  men  and  women 
in  the  same  condition  in  a  spiritual  way.  Sometimes 
the  fierce  heat  of  worldliness  seems  to  carbonize  peo- 
ple's hearts  until  they  are  as  hard  as  flint.  They  look 
like  men  and  women,  but  they  are  really  only  car- 
bonized money -getters,  like  the  iron  toy-bank  that 
sits  on  the  mantel.  Solomon  says :  "  Better  is  a  lit- 
tle with  righteousness  than  great  revenues  without 
right. " 

RUN  TO  THE  RESCUE! 

A  brakeman  named  John  Hull,  on  the  New  York 
Central  and  Hudson  Eiver  Kailroad,  prevented  a  ter- 
rible accident  by  his  fidelity  to  duty  and  his  speed  as 
a  runner.  A  freight  train  on  which  he  was  at  work 
was  wrecked  at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning;  the  cars 
were  thrown  across  both  tracks,  and  a  section  of  the 
block-signal  system  was  destroyed.  John  Hull  saw 
the  danger  at  once,  and  started  at  his  best  speed  for 
the  nearest  signal-tower  north  of  the  wreck.     He  ar- 


376  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

rived  in  tlie  very  nick  of  time  to  enable  the  operator 
to  notify  the  nearest  station,  and  three  express  trains 
from  Buffalo  and  the  West,  which  were  about  due, 
were  held  there.  If  we  could  only  know  how  many 
might  be  saved  from  wreck  by  our  seizing  every  op- 
portunity to  speak  the  word  of  warning  concerning 
perils  which  lie  in  the  track  of  careless  souls,  we  would 
surely  be  more  faithful  to  follow  the  injunction  of 
Scripture  to  "  Run,  speak  to  that  young  man!" 

A  SPECIES  OF  SAVAGERY. 

The  wild  Indians  from  Buffalo  Bill's  Wild  West 
Show  visited  the  Stock  Exchange  of  New  York  City, 
and  the  newspapers  made  a  good  deal  of  sport  out  of 
the  visit.  It  is  said  that  the  Indians,  some  of  whom 
have  been  in  Indian  wars  against  the  whites,  and 
have  taken  human  scalps,  would  have  felt  very  much 
at  home  if  they  could  have  known  with  what  savage 
ferocity  the  bulls  and  bears  of  the  Exchange  some- 
times attack  and  destroy  one  another.  But  there  is 
another  species  of  savagery  which  is  clothed  in  a  still 
gentler  guise.  It  is  the  savagery  of  gossip  and  slan- 
der that  rejoices  in  stabbing  reputations,  and  setting 
the  fire  of  scandal  until  it  runs  through  society  like  a 
fire  in  a  forest  of  pines,  blackening  and  blighting  what 
it  does  not  kill.  St.  James  says  of  an  evil  tongue, 
"Behold,  how  great  a  matter  a  little  fire  kiudleth! 
and  the  tongue  is  a  fire,  a  world  of  iniquity ;  so  is  the 
tongue  among  our  members,  that  it  defileth  the  whole 
body,  and  setteth  on  fire  the  course  of  nature ;  and  is 


A  DEAD  MAN  AT  THE  HELM.  377 

set  on  fire  of  hell."     Such  a  tongue  is  the  candle  of 
the  Lord  lighted  at  the  devil's  fire. 


FLYING  INTO  THE  FACE  OF  DANGER. 

A  train  running  from  Long  Island  City  to  Patchogue 
at  a  late  hour  at  night  crashed  into  a  herd  of  deer 
which  were  standing  on  the  track.  The  animals 
seemed  dazed  by  the  headlight  of  the  engine.  Two 
of  them  were  killed  outright,  while  others  were  in- 
jured. One  of  the  maddened  animals  jumped  up  past 
the  cab  and  landed  in  the  middle  of  the  coal-laden 
tender.  The  deer  is  the  most  timid  and  geutle  of  all 
animals,  and  yet  when  confused  becomes  the  most 
reckless  in  its  desperation.  No  one  knows  of  what 
reckless,  foolish  deeds  he  may  be  capable  if  once  the 
heart  is  fascinated  and  confused  by  the  baleful  glare 
of  evil.  It'  is  better  to  keep  away  from  the  track 
where  the  devil  runs  his  engines. 

A  DEAD  MAN  AT  THE  HELM. 

A  captain  coming  into  port  at  San  Francisco  re- 
ported passing  a  schooner  which  had  been  dismantled 
in  the  storm  and  was  drifting  helplessly  on  the  waves. 
The  mainmast  had  been  broken  off  close  to  the  deck, 
and  it  was  dragging  after.  Lashed  to  the  iron  davits 
astern,  and  directly  over  the  wheel  that  whirled  back 
and  forth  as  the  waves  washed  under  the  rudder,  was 
the  body  of  the  mate,  dressed  in  oilskins.  A  weather- 
beaten  sou' -wester  still  remained  on  his  head.     He 


378  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

had  lashed  himself  to  one  of  the  davits,  and  there  the 
body  hung  in  the  lashings.  The  left  hand  trailed 
over  the  vessel's  rail,  and  on  its  third  finger  was  a 
plain  gold  ring.  His  lifeless  hand  had  dropped  from 
the  wheel,  and  tho  the  dead  man  was  still  at  his 
post,  the  vessel  drifted  where  it  listed.  A  ship  is  in 
a  hard  plight  with  a  dead  man  at  the  helm,  but  in  no 
worse  plight  than  a  family,  or  a  church,  or  a  political 
party,  whose  leader's  tongue  has  become  palsied 
through  fear  or  sin  so  that  it  will  not  speak  the  mes- 
sage of  righteousness  God  gives  it.  St.  James  com- 
pares the  tongue  to  the  helm  of  a  ship,  which,  tho 
small  in  itself,  produces  great  results  in  the  hand  of  a 
wise  pilot.  He  says :  *'  Behold  also  the  ships,  which 
tho  they  be  so  great,  and  are  driven  of  fierce  winds, 
yet  are  they  turned  about  with  a  very  small  helm, 
whithersoever  the  governor  listeth.  Even  so  the 
tongue." 

THE  MESSAGE  OF  A  PRESfCE. 

Mr.  Edison  has  in  his  laboratory  a  phonograph  cyl- 
inder which  he  values  very  highly  because  it  is  one 
that  retains  a  message  spoken  to  the  inventor  by  Prince 
George  of  Greece.  The  message  is  as  follows: 
"Hail,  Edison,  greatest  of  inventors.  George,  Prince 
of  Greece,  salutes  thee."  But  I  know  another  mes- 
sage spoken  by  the  Prince  of  Peace,  and  treasured  up 
in  that  wonderful  phonograph  we  call  the  Bible,  which 
is  infinitely  more  interesting  than  that.  It  is  a  word 
of  command  and  good  cheer  from  him  who  is  King  of 
kings   and  Lord  of  lords :     "  Go  ye,   therefore,  and 


A  RICH  MAN'S  GENEROSITY.  379 

teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost :  teach- 
ing them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  have  com- 
manded you ;  and,  lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto 
the  end  of  the  world. " 


GOD  SEEING  THE  HEART. 

A  medical  journal  gives  a  very  interesting  account 
of  how,  by  the  aid  of  the  X-rays,  a  physician  has  been 
able  to  observe  the  action  of  the  heart  of  his  patient. 
That  is  only  a  suggestion  of  the  great  truth  that  our 
hearts  are  always  open  and  naked  to  the  eye  of  God, 
and  he  beholds  with  perfect  clearness  all  the  thoughts 
and  purposes  that  are  formed  there.  If  we  are  seek- 
ing to  live  righteously  this  is  a  great  comfort,  for  it 
insures  agg-inst  his  misunderstanding  us.  But  if  we 
are  trying  to  hide  some  impure  desire  or  unholy  pur- 
pose we  may  be  sure  it  is  not  hidden  from  the  eye  of 
God.  God  does  not  value  the  outward  pledge  of  our 
lips  unless  the  heart  within  is  in  harmony  with  it. 

A  RICH  MAN'S  GENEROSITY. 

A  story  good  enough  to  be  true  is  told  concerning  a 
well-known  politician  and  business  man  who  is  also 
very  rich.  At  a  time  when  he  was  exceedingly  busy  he 
was  informed  that  one  of  his  corps  of  bookkeepers  was 
about  to  be  married.  The  man  of  business  at  once 
sent  for  him,  and  asked  where  he  intended  to  go  on 
his  wedding  tour.     As  the  young  man  was  poor,  he 


380  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

timidly  replied  that  he  did  not  expect  to  make  much 
of  a  trip.  "  How  would  you  like  to  go  through  the 
Great  Lakes  and  return  on  one  of  my  boats?"  pursued 
the  employer  kindly.  "Very  much,"  the  bookkeeper 
replied,  brightening  up,  "  if  I  could  be  spared  so  long. " 
"  I  will  give  you  a  vacation  and  a  pass, "  was  the  re- 
ply, and  the  young  lover  went  away  rejoicing.  True 
to  his  promise,  the  magnate  went  to  the  captain  of 
one  of  his  finest  boats,  and  told  him  to  give  the  bridal 
couple  the  best  quarters  and  every  attention  without 
charge.  "  After  you  are  well  out  from  shore, "  con- 
tinued the  employer  to  the  captain,  "  hand  the  bride- 
groom this  envelope  with  my  compliments,  and  tell 
him  to  have  a  good  time."  The  envelope  contained 
$200.  All  the  little  worries  about  ways  and  means 
were  swept  away  for  these  young  people  by  the  rich 
man's  generosity  and  kindness.  If  a  man  can  do  so 
much  to  shed  light  on  the  path  of  his  fellow,  how 
much  more  may  the  assurance  of  God's  embracing 
love  dissipate  our  worries  and  put  them  to  flight!  The 
rich  man's  generosity  was  only  a  temporary  kindness, 
but  God  is  always  dealing  with  us  in  that  way,  and 
his  rich  provision  for  us  is  unlimited. 

THE  HEROISM  AND  FAITHFULNESS   OF   CHRIST. 

Seldom  has  there  been  a  more  heroic  sacrifice  than 
that  made  by  seven  nuns  at  Eoberval,  Quebec,  when, 
on  the  6th  of  January,  1897,  their  convent  was  found 
to  be  on  fire  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning.  When  the 
alarm  was  given,  the  nuns  bravely  undertook  the  task 


THE  WASTE  OF  SPIRITUAL  RICHES.      381 

of  rescuing  the  young  girls  who  were  in  attendance  at 
their  school.  From  floor  to  floor  of  the  doomed  build- 
ing they  rushed  through  blinding  smoke  and  lurid 
flame,  and  not  until  every  one  in  their  charge  was 
warned  of  the  danger  and  safely  out  of  the  building 
did  they  turn  to  the  saving  of  their  own  lives.  It 
was  then  too  late,  and,  overcome  by  the  heat  and 
smoke,  seven  of  the  heroic  sisters  gave  up  their  lives. 
Such  a  deed  arouses  our  sympathies  and  touches  our 
hearts  to  admiration  and  tenderness.  Yet  these  wo- 
men held  their  students  as  a  sacred  charge,  and  duty 
and  love  alike  united  in  leading  them  to  this  heroic 
sacrifice.  But  Christ  came  to  die  for  our  poor  race 
when  we  were  sinners,  and  tho  men  rejected  him, 
and  hated  him,  and  persecuted  him  even  unto  the 
cross,  he  prayed  for  them  in  his  dying  moments  and 
gave  his  life  to  redeem  them.  The  world  does  not 
furuish  a  parallel  for  such  a  sacrifice.  We  may  be 
sure  that  he  who  gave  himself  to  die  upon  the  cross 
for  us  when  we  were  sinners  will  never  desert  us  when 
we  are  trying  ever  so  feebly  to  please  him.  Well 
does  Isaiah  say,  "Faithfulness  is  the  girdle  of  his 
reins." 

THE  WASTE  OF  SPIRITUAL  RICHES. 

A  gentleman  living  in  New  Jersey  discovered  that 
he  had  what  was  equivalent  to  a  little  gold-mine  on 
his  farm — a  mine  of  which  he  was  entirely  unconscious, 
but  which  other  people  were  working  to  their  own  ad- 
vantage.    There  is  a  species  of  rush  that  grows  along 


382  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

a  little  stream  that  flows  through  his  property,  which 
is  used  extensively  for  polishing  meerschaum  goods. 
These  rushes  are  rare,  and  therefore  very  valuable. 
The  gentleman  had  regarded  them  as  only  an  incum- 
brance, until  he  found  out  that  some  men  were  secretly 
cutting  them  and  carrying  them  away  to  New  York. 
He  began  to  investigate,  and  found  to  his  astonish- 
ment that  for  a  number  of  years  over  $1,000  worth 
of  rushes  had  been  sold  from  his  property  every  year. 

Another  incident  of  the  same  character,  but  cover- 
ing a  much  larger  sum  of  money,  comes  to  us  from 
Montana.  For  several  years  the  water  which  flowed 
from  the  Anaconda  and  St,  Lawrence  mines,  near 
Butte,  Mont.,  was  allowed  to  go  to  waste,  although  it 
was  known  to  be  heavily  freighted  with  copper.  But 
they  have  now  devised  a  plan  by  which  they  can  save 
the  copper  which  is  carried  out  of  the  mine  in  the 
water.  And  they  find  that  this  refuse  that  has  been 
going  to  waste  yields  $360,000  a  year,  or  about 
$1,000  a  day.  It  is  estimated  that  $1,500,000  went 
to  waste  before  the  loss  was  discovered,  or  at  least 
before  a  way  was  discovered  to  prevent  it. 

The  saddest  thing  in  modern  life  is  the  waste  of 
spiritual  resources  in  our  churches.  Multitudes  of 
men  and  women  who  by  character,  culture,  refinement, 
ability,  are  capable  of  splendid  work  for  the  Master 
are  going  with  idle  hands  while  the  world  "  lieth  in 
wickedness."  If  all  the  buried  talents  could  be 
brought  out  of  their  hiding-places  and  put  to  work  in 
the  activities  of  the  church,  what  an  abundance  of 
spiritual  wealth  would  be  disclosed!     This  waste  of 


KEEP  YOUR   BASKET  OPEN.  383 

spiritual  possibility  is  the  saddest  waste  of  all.  It  is 
a  small  matter  that  rushes  or  copper  should  be  lost, 
compared  to  the  loss  of  soul  treasures  that  could  so 
sweeten  the  earth  if  properly  husbanded  and  put  to 

use. 

DANGER  OF  DELAY  IN  DEALING  WITH    LITTLE 
SINS. 

Thirty  years  ago  a  French  naturalist  brought  a 
handful  of  gypsy  moths  to  this  country  for  purposes 
of  scientific  experiment.  Some  of  the  moths  escaped. 
If  taken  in  hand  at  once,  they  could  easily  have  been 
destroyed,  but  the  State  authorities  dallied  with  the 
question  for  twenty  years  before  they  really  set  to 
work  to  destroy  them.  Up  to  the  present  time,  that 
little  handful  of  moths  has  cost  the  State  of  Massa- 
chusetts alone  $700,000,  and  it  is  estimated  that  it 
will  cost  at  least  $1,000,000  more  to  put  an  end  to 
them.  The  dangerous  multiplication  of  evil  thoughts 
and  the  growth  of  sinful  habit  are  like  that.  If  the 
wicked  thought  is  driven  out  at  once,  it  can  be  done 
easily ;  but  if  permitted  to  nest  in  the  heart  it  rapidly 
multiplies  in  power  and  influence. 

KEEP  YOUR  BASKET  OPEN. 

A  little  girl  in  Brooklyn,  only  two  and  a  half  years 
old,  being  left  alone  for  a  minute  where  there  was  an 
open  window,  climbed  up  on  to  the  window-sill  in  a 
fourth-floor  flat.  She  fell  out.  There  was  a  net- 
work of  clothes-lines  running  from  poles  to  the  win- 


384  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

dows.  The  child  struck  one  and  bounded  to  another, 
and  was  thus  delayed  in  falling.  It  happened  that  a 
woman  was  hanging  clothes  from  the  ground.  She 
looked  up  and  saw  the  child  falling.  She  screamed, 
but,  notwithstanding  her  terror,  thought  and  acted 
quickly.  She  picked  up  her  clothes-basket,  and, 
bracing  herself,  caught  the  baby  in  safety.  It  is  good 
to  cultivate  the  art  of  reaching  out  the  helping  hand, 
and  putting  our  basket  of  salvation  under  those  who 
have  lost  their  footing  and  are  tumbling  to  disaster. 

MAKING  FRIENDS  FOR  THE  FUTURE. 

Richard  T.  Grant,  at  one  time  a  very  well-known 
writer,  died  in  a  New  York  boarding-house,  alone  and 
broken-hearted.  His  last  poem  was  found  among  his 
papers.  When  taken  in  connection  with  his  death,  it 
is  full  of  pathos : 

"  In  a  time  forgot,  in  a  land  unknown. 

There  lived  a  man  unto  none  akin, 
Whose  life  was  a  ceaseless  monotone, 

That  jarred  with  the  harmony  within. 
In  the  links  of  friendship's  golden  chain 

His  hungering  heart  he  eager  bound. 
But  each  link  brought  with  it  bitter  pain, 

For  his  seeming  friend  he  faithless  found. " 

It  is  infinitely  sad  to  see  a  life  go  out  in  such  lone- 
liness. Those  who  in  youth  make  friends  with  Jesus 
Christ  will  find,  as  they  grow  older,  that  he  will  not 
only  be  faithful  to  them,  but  will  introduce  them  into 
many  other  comforting  associations.     Let  no  young 


THE  REWARD  OF  PERSEVERANCE.       385 

man  or  young  woman  delay  to  make  this  holy  friend- 
ship that  will  be  the  chief  comfort  in  old  age. 


IS  YOUR  SIGNAL  RELIABLE? 

A  horrible  accident  occurred  on  Long  Island,  when 
a  railroad  train  ran  unheralded  into  a  tally-ho  coach, 
and  destroyed  several  precious  lives.  The  accident 
seems  to  have  been  caused  by  the  block-signal  gong 
machinery  being  out  of  order.  The  people  living  near 
by  the  place  of  the  accident  testified  that  the  gong  had 
not  rung  the  alarm  at  the  approach  of  a  train  for  sev- 
eral weeks.  It  is  well  for  every  Christian  to  ask  him- 
self frequently  whether  his  signal  system  is  all  right 
or  not.  Is  the  conscience  tender  and  sensitive  to  the 
approach  of  evil  ?  Does  his  daily  example  fly  the  flag 
of  obedience  to  Christ?  Let  us  see  to  it  that  we  are 
not  stumbling-blocks  to  others.  A  little  patient  self- 
examination  every  day  will  be  a  good  thing  for  every 
one  of  us. 

THE  REWARD  OF  PERSEVERANCE. 

A  man  who  was  camping  out  in  British  Columbia 
was  digging  a  trench  around  his  tent  so  as  to  drain 
away  the  water  from  the  rainfall,  when  he  struck  a 
gold-seamed  rock  that  was  wonderfully  rich.  He  had 
been  prospecting  for  a  long  time,  and  had  almost  lost 
hope.  The  only  words  he  could  say  when  he  met  his 
friend  were,  "I've  found  it!  I've  found  it!"  Many 
lose  the  great  blessings  of  life  because  they  give  up 
25 


386  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

too  soon.  There  is  no  field  so  fertile  for  human  cul- 
tivation as  the  one  called  patience.  It  is  the  one  who 
Ijerseveres  unto  the  end  who  shall  obtain  the  crown  of 
life  which  fadeth  not  away. 

A  MILLIONAIRE  ON  THE  GALLOWS. 

A  young  man  was  hanged  in  the  State  of  Missouri 
for  the  murder  of  his  wife  and  child  when  he  was  in- 
toxicated. He  was  a  man  of  education,  and  had  many 
brilliant  gifts.  He  had  been  reared  in  affluence^,  and 
his  father  left  him  an  inheritance  of  a  million  dollars. 
Liquor  became  his  master.  When  under  its  influence 
he  was  a  miserable  slave  who  did  its  foul  bidding. 
Better  a  thousand  times  to  be  poor  and  free  than  a 
millionaire  and  the  slave  of  the  wine-cup! 

THE  NEED  OF  AN  UP-TO-DATE  CHURCH. 

A  man  digging  a  well  in  Minnesota  discovered  an 
old  Spanish  gunboat  which  has  since  been  completely 
unearthed.  The  impression  is  that  the  boat  was  run 
up  into  that  region  by  the  early  Spanish  discoverers 
about  the  year  1600,  when  a  much  larger  part  of  the 
State  was  under  water  than  now.  Five  cannon  and 
two  mortars  and  a  large  number  of  cannon-balls  were 
found  on  board.  The  gunboat  was  found  in  the  bed 
of  a  creek,  which  was  no  doubt  in  the  old  time  a  nav- 
igable river.  As  the  years  have  passed  by,  it  has 
been  covered  over  completely  by  the  soil,  until  thus 
discovered  by  accident.     It  is  interesting  as  a  curl- 


SLAIN  BY  DWARFS.  387 

osity,  but  worthless  as  a  gunboat.  A  good  many- 
churches  are  in  that  condition.  They  belong  to  an- 
other age.  Instead  of  keeping  pace  with  the  current 
of  the  world,  floating  on  the  bosom  of  its  life,  keeping 
in  touch  with  its  living  heart,  they  have  been  covered 
over  with  its  drift  and  forgotten.  They  are  interest- 
ing relics  of  a  dead  past,  but  are  worthless  as  allies  in 
the  capture  of  the  world  for  Christ.  Almost  every 
church  has  some  members  in  the  same  condition. 


SLAIN  BY  DWARFS. 

A  young  man  twenty-seven  years  of  age,  living  in 
William sbridge,  N.  Y.,  was  sent  to  an  insane  asylum, 
his  mind  having  been  destroyed  by  cigarette  smoking. 
He  was  a  bright  young  fellow,  and  graduated  from  the 
high  school  at  the  head  of  a  large  class.  All  who 
knew  him  predicted  for  him  a  brilliant  future.  He 
obtained  a  good  position  in  New  York  City,  and  was 
rapidly  promoted.  There  was  one  little  worm,  how- 
ever, at  the  root  of  this  fair  young  tree,  which  has 
now  utterly  destroyed  all  its  brilliant  promise.  He 
began  to  smoke  cigarettes  during  his  school-days,  but 
at  the  outset  he  was  moderate.  As  he  became  inter- 
ested in  business,  the  daily  consumption  of  cigarettes 
increased,  until  it  undermined  his  health  and  sapped 
his  ability.  He  tried  to  quit,  but  failed.  The  little 
piece  of  rice  paper  was  his  master.  Nothing  that 
harms  us  is  too  small  or  insignificant  an  enemy  for  us 
to  treat  with  contempt.     Keep  the  body  pure. 


388  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 


DEATH  ALWAYS  NEAR. 

One  evening  in  Brooklyn,  a  great  scare  was  caused 
at  the  junction  of  DeKalb  Avenue  and  Fulton  Street, 
when  the  DeKalb  Avenue  trolley-wire  broke  and, 
curling  down,  got  caught  between  the  front  wheel  of 
the  car  and  the  rail.  The  whole  block  was  lit  up  with 
a  noonday  brightness,  the  white  light  being  accompa- 
nied by  a  great  sizzling.  The  people  in  the  neighbor- 
hood fled  in  all  directions,  and  several  drivers  had 
difficulty  in  holding  their  frightened  horses.  The 
passengers  in  the  car  were  nearly  wild  with  fear,  and 
every  face  was  white  as  they  were  assisted  out  of  dan- 
ger. We  are  always  thus  near  to  the  gate  of  death — 
not  here  and  there  one,  but  everybody.  This  makes 
Easter  the  most  splendid  of  all  our  holidays,  for  it 
has  a  message  of  good  cheer  and  hope  to  the  universal 
human  heart. 

STANDING  IN  OUR  PLACE. 

A  New  York  merchant  who  is  very  wealthy  is 
afflicted  with  blindness,  caused  by  the  atrophy  of  the 
optic  nerve.  He  so  greatly  desires  to  recover  his  sight 
that  he  has  offered  a  reward  of  a  million  dollars  to 
any  one  that  will  restore  him  the  use  of  his  eyes.  A 
very  poor  young  man,  who  is  afflicted  in  the  same 
way,  has  been  hired  by  this  wealthy  merchant  to  per- 
mit the  experiments  which  are  suggested  to  him  to  be 
tried  on  his  eyes.  He  stands  in  the  rich  man's  place 
with  the  added  interest  that  if  the  experiments  are 


"LEAD,  KINDLY  LIGHT.''  389 

successful  he  will  recover  his  own  sight,  as  well  as 
lead  to  the  recovery  of  his  employer.  But  suppose  it 
were  turned  around,  and  the  rich  man  were  to  give  up 
his  wealth,  and  his  own  sight,  and  his  life  even,  to 
stand  in  the  place  of  this  poor  man,  and  bring  recov- 
ery and  comfort  to  him,  how  infinitely  more  striking 
and  interesting  it  would  be!  But  Christ  did  more 
than  that  for  us.  He  had  the  glory  of  heaven,  and 
riches  beyond  our  dreams ;  and  yet  he  became  poor 
and  lonely  and  outcast,  and  suffered  and  died  upon  the 
cross  in  our  stead ;  went  down  into  the  grave  for  us ; 
but,  blessed  be  God!  he  broke  the  bands  of  death 
asunder,  and  stands  glorified  in  heaven,  the  pledge 
that  all  who  sleep  in  Jesus  shall  have  like  victory! 

NEED  OF  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

That  is  a 'splendid  appeal  of  St.  Paul,  *'  If  ye  then 
be  risen  with  Christ,  seek  those  things  which  are 
above."  One  may  be  very  much  alive  in  every  other 
department  of  his  being,  and  yet  share  no  spiritual 
life  with  Jesus  Christ.  Dr.  C.  A.  Berry,  of  Wolver- 
hampton, England,  has  given  utterance  to  this  striking 
sentence:  "It  is  possible  to  be  intellectually  great, 
ethically  enthusiastic,  and  spiritually  dead." 

"LEAD,  KINDLY  LIGHT." 

A  little  girl  of  four,  with  her  nurse,  was  walking  at 
the  seaside.  They  came  to  an  inlet,  and  the  nurse 
decided   to   row  across,  believing  that  by  so  doing 


390  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

she  would  shorten  the  walk  home.  When  the  boat 
reached  the  opposite  side,  she  put  the  child  ashore, 
thinking  she  was  but  a  little  distance  from  home,  and 
rowed  the  borrowed  boat  back.  The  distance  was  not 
great,  but  was  very  rough  and  difficult  for  a  child  so 
small.  She  struggled  on  through  the  coarse  grass  and 
heavy  sand,  until  at  last  her  mother  saw  her  coming, 
and  hurried  to  meet  her.  The  mother  exclaimed: 
''  Were  you  frightened,  my  sweet?  "  "  I  felt  very 
lost,"  was  the  reply,  "but  I  sang  'Lead,  Kindly 
Light '  to  myself  all  the  way."  This  sweet  little  story 
suggests  to  our  thought  the  multitude  of  children  who 
have  grown  taller,  who  are  pressing  their  way  through 
the  hard  thickets  of  life  and  the  heavy  sand  of  the 
seashores  of  mystery,  to  whom  the  Easter  hope  is  the 
"  Lead,  Kindly  Light "  that  is  nerving  their  souls  and 
inspiring  their  courage  to  press  forward — 

"  O'er  moor  and  fen,  o'er  crag  and  torrent  till 
The  night  is  gone, 
And  with  the  morn  those  angel  faces  smile 
Which  they  have  loved  long  since,  and  lost  awhile !" 

'^THE  RISING  ONE." 

Our  German  ancestors  personified  the  beautiful 
spring  as  a  goddess  whom  they  called  Ostera,  "  The 
Eising  One,"  and  her  festival  was  celebrated  at  the 
rising  period  of  the  year.  In  the  whole  ritual  of  the 
nature-cult  there  could  be  nothing  more  winsome  than 
the  worship  of  this  daughter  of  the  sun ;  and  when 
the  rough  people  of  the  North  had  set  Jesus  in  the 


LOOKING  OUT  FOR  OLD  AGE.  391 

place  of  all  their  old  deities,  the  festival  Avhich  hon- 
ored him  as  "  the  Rising  One  "  drew  to  itself  the  dear 
old  name  of  Easter. 


A  PETTY  SPIRIT. 

Some  people  are  always  getting  roiled  up  like  a 
shallow  spring.  If  a  spring  is  deep  and  large  enough, 
you  can  dip  a  great  bucket  of  water  out  of  it  and  stir 
no  mud ;  but  if  it  is  a  little  shallow  place,  a  pint  cup 
will  roil  it  so  that  no  one  will  want  to  have  anything 
to  do  with  it.  A  Congressman  went  to  New  York  to 
attend  the  Grant  memorial  exercises,  and  because  the 
reception  committee,  by  accident,  failed  to  recognize 
his  majesty  when  he  got  out  of  the  train  in  Jersey 
City,  though  afterward  they  did  everything  they  could 
to  make  it  all  right,  he  sulked  and  pouted  and  refused 
to  register  at  the  hotel  where  the  other  Congressmen 
were  staying ;  yet,  some  way  or  other,  the  program  of 
the  day  was  carried  out  just  the  same.  One  never 
makes  a  greater  blunder  than  by  condescending  to 
allow  little  and  petty  things  to  disturb  his  peace. 
That  is  a  strong  and  true  sentence  that  comes  to  us 
from  the  wise  prophet  of  old,  "  In  quietness  and  con- 
fidence shall  be  your  strength." 

LOOKING  OUT  FOR  OLD  AGE. 

It  is  a  great  thing  to  live  one's  youth  and  middle 
life  in  such  a  spirit  that  in  old  age  the  forces  of 
earlier  life  will  continue  to  give  us  interesting  and 


392  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

happy  employment  of  mind  and  hand.  I  think  one  of 
the  most  pathetic  things  I  have  read  for  a  long  time 
is  an  utterance  credited  to  Prince  Bismarck :  "  I  feel 
tired,  but  I  am  not  sick.  My  complaint  is  uneasiness 
of  life,  in  which  I  no  longer  have  any  object.  Noth- 
ing that  I  can  see  gives  me  a  pleasure.  I  feel  lonely. 
I  have  lost  my  wife,  and  my  sons  have  their  own 
business  to  attend  to.  Agriculture  and  forestry  have 
lost  interest,  and  politics  are  beginning  to  bore  me." 
How  Mr.  Gladstone's  enthusiasm  for  the  Armenians, 
and  his  admiration  for  Grecian  heroism,  and  his  inter- 
est and  happiness  in  every  good  deed  that  was  being 
performed  anywhere  in  the  world,  stand  out  in  bril- 
liant contrast  to  this.  If  we  spend  our  youth  and  our 
middle  life  in  real  fellowship  with  Christ,  seeking  to 
make  the  world  better,  we  shall  not  lose  interest  in 
life  as  we  grow  old,  but  our  youth  will  be  renewed  in 
the  new  struggles  for  liberty  and  righteousness  which 
are  ever  being  exhibited. 

LITTLE  MEN  REQUIRE  MUCH  ROOM. 

If  Lot  had  been  as  large  a  man,  in  mind  and  heart, 
as  Abraham,  there  would  have  been  plenty  of  room 
for  them  both  in  the  same  country ;  but  Lot  was  a  lit- 
tle man  with  enormous  greed.  It  is  hard  for  such  a 
man  to  live  in  peace  anywhere.  A  very  interesting 
surgical  operation,  performed  at  Atlanta,  Ga.,  let  the 
light  of  intelligence  into  the  darkened  mind  of  a  girl 
who,  at  the  age  of  eleven,  had  the  intellect  of  a  baby. 
A  bright  young  physician  suggested  that  the  trouble 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  LIFE.  393 

was  due  to  the  fact  that  the  child's  skull  was  too  small 
and  rigid  to  permit  her  brain  to  grow.  He  urged  her 
parents  to  permit  an  operation  which  would  lift  the 
skull  and  give  the  brain  more  room.  The  parents 
wisely  decided  to  risk  the  experiment.  The  opera- 
tion was  successful,  and  the  child  immediately  showed 
marked  mental  improvement.  Such  men  as  Lot  need 
some  sort  of  moral  surgical  operation  to  open  their 
hearts  and  give  them  room  for  a  larger  vision. 

"LET  US  HAVE  PEACE." 

The  whole  world  never  tires  of  doing  honor  to  the 
great  captain  who,  at  the  close  of  a  long  and  bloody 
war,  had  a  soul  large  enough  to  see  in  his  conquered 
foes  an  army  of  brothers,  and  voiced  the  best  senti- 
ment of  the  nation's  heart  when  he  uttered  the  words 
that  have  been  graven  on  his  splendid  tomb,  "  Let  us 
have  peace."  It  was  deeds  like  that  that  made  it 
possible  for  the  South  to  vie  with  the  North  in  expres- 
sions of  affection  and  honor  at  the  tomb  of  Grant. 

THE  SPIRIT  OF  LIFE. 

The  spirit  in  which  we  live  is,  after  all,  more  im- 
portant than  the  deeds  we  do.  Abraham  lived  in  the 
desert,  and  tented  out  like  an  American  Indian,  but 
he  lived  in  a  great  and  reverent  spirit,  so  fine  in  its 
quality,  both  in  its  faith  in  God  and  in  its  generosity 
toward  the  men  with  whom  he  had  dealings,  that  he 
has  stood  up  from  the  desert  a  sort  of  beacon-light  of 
history,  a  lighthouse  to  which  men  look  for  courage. 


394  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

As  Christians  we  are  urged  to  live  in  the  spirit  of 
Christ.  That  noble-hearted  Scotchman,  John  Stuart 
Blackie,  used  to  say  to  his  friends,  "  Look  Christ  in 
the  face ;  in  all  things  note  what  Christ  did  in  like 
circumstances,  and  do  as  he  would  have  done."  Any 
one  of  us  living  our  lives  in  that  spirit  will  find  that 
commonplace  duties  grow  fine  and  romantic. 

USELESS  CONSULS. 

A  young  New  York  business  man  who  has  been 
making  a  tour  of  the  West  Indies  in  search  of  infor- 
mation as  to  trade  conditions  and  possibilities  in  that 
region,  complains  that  he  could  not  get  the  slightest 
assistance  from  the  United  States  consuls.  This  was 
not  because  they  were  unwilling  to  assist  him,  but  be- 
cause they  were  entirely  unfit  for  their  positions.  He 
often  found  the  Stars  and  Stripes  flying  over  the  door 
of  a  man  who  could  not  speak  a  word  of  the  language 
of  the  people  among  whom  he  lived,  and  knew  nothing 
about  the  commerce  or  resources  of  the  island  where 
he  represented  the  United  States.  Every  Christian 
is  under  obligation  to  represent  Jesus  Christ  to  those 
who  do  not  know  him.  Many  times  those  who  bear 
his  name  fail  to  properly  make  him  known  because  of 
their  ignorance.  If  we  are  going  to  make  our  Chris- 
tiianty  of  value  to  others,  we  must  be  not  only  earnest, 
but  intelligent  Christians  ourselves.  We  should  study 
to  know  Christ  more  perfectly,  not  only  for  our  own 
comfort,  but  that  we  may  be  able  to  make  our  knowl- 
edge a  blessing  to  others. 


LIVING  IN  POVERTY.  395 


OUR  SISTERS  IN  THE  SWEAT-SHOPS. 

The  State  Factory  Inspector  of  New  York,  Daniel 
O'Leary,  reported  that  some  of  the  worst  sweat-shops 
in  Kew  York  City  had  been  found  where  the  most 
fashionable  clothing  was  being  made  for  the  well-to- 
do  and  the  rich.  It  was  discovered  that  young  girls 
were  compelled  to  work  in  quarters  that  rendered 
health  impossible.  They  were  wan-looking,  Avith  eyes 
inflamed  from  bad  light  and  lack  of  ventilation.  If 
well-to-do  women,  as  well  as  men,  would  only  take  the 
care  to  find  out  where  their  clothing  is  made,  and  make 
sure  that  the  Avorkers  receive  a  fair  compensation, 
these  crime-breeding,  health-destroying  sweat-shops 
would  soon  be  a  thing  of  the  past.  Our  careless- 
ness about  these  things  is  one  of  the  greatest  factors 
in  the  cr\jel  oppression  of  the  poor,  A  Christian  con- 
ception of  the  brotherhood  of  man  will  cause  us  to  be 
careful  and  not  careless  of  the  people  who  minister  to 
our  comfort. 

LIVING    IN     POVERTY    WITH    WEALTH    LYING 
IDLE. 

A  man  who  lived  alone,  a  sort  of  hermit  life,  died 
in  Brooklyn,  and  had  been  dead  several  days  before 
the  body  was  found.  He  had  been  living  seemingly 
in  great  poverty  and  had  spent  scarcely  anything  for 
the  comforts  of  life,  but  on  his  death  it  was  discovered 
that  he  owned  a  three-story  house,  and,  besides  a 
great  deal  of  money  stuffed  away  in  odd  places  about 


396  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

his  room,  had  more  than  ^12,000  in  the  bank.  It  is 
a  sad  thing  to  see  one  denying  himself  the  common 
comforts  of  life  when  he  has  within  reach  an  abun- 
dance of  means  to  supply  them;  but  it  is  far  sadder 
for  one  to  live  in  poverty  of  soul,  without  the  pleasures 
of  hope  and  faith  and  love,  when  these  soul-treasures 
are  within  his  reach  in  unlimited  abundance. 


RICHES  FORFEITED  THROUGH  DISOBEDIENCE. 

The  newspapers  have  had  a  good  deal  to  say  con- 
cerning the  conduct  of  a  young  lady  in  California  who 
married  contrary  to  her  father's  wishes,  and  who  felt 
constrained  on  account  of  this  disobedience  to  return 
to  her  father  $1,500,000  worth  of  property  which 
he  had  given  her  during  her  girlhood.  This  was,  of 
course,  a  voluntary  act,  as  her  father  had  no  legal 
claim  upon  the  wealth.  It  suggests,  however,  a  fre- 
quent occurrence  in  regard  to  spiritual  things.  The 
soul  that  sins  against  God  and  disobeys  his  will  for- 
feits all  spiritual  wealth.  This  is  not  because  God  is 
miserly,  or  takes  it  away  from  us  in  anger,  but  be- 
cause it  is  impossible  for  us  to  enjoy  the  rich  treasures 
of  the  soul  unless  we  are  at  peace  with  God  through 
obedience  to  his  will. 

THE  LIGHT  THAT  WARMS. 

On  the  Yukon  Kiver  in  Alaska,  during  the  winter 
months,  the  aurora,  or  northern  light,  shines  with 
great  brilliance,    and  is  intensely  beautiful.     This 


THE  LIGHT  THAT  WARMS.  397 

lovely  light  commences  to  reveal  itself  early  in  the 
fall,  and  lasts,  with  more  or  less  brilliancy,  through 
out  the  long  arctic  winter.  It  generally  begins  upon 
the  setting  of  the  sun,  altho  in  midwinter  it  has 
sometimes  been  so  bright  that  it  was  visible  at  noon, 
while  the  sun  was  shining  brightly.  The  rays  of  the 
light  first  shoot  forth  a  quick,  quivering  motion,  are 
then  gathered  and  form  a  great  arch  of  fire,  spanning 
the  heavens.  It  glows  for  an  instant  like  a  girdle  of 
burnished  gold ;  then,  unfolding,  great  curtains  of  light 
drop  forth.  The  Alaska  Neivs  says  these  royal  man- 
tles of  bright  orange,  green,  pink,  rose,  yellow,  and 
crimson  are  suspended  and  waved  between  heaven  and 
earth  as  with  an  invisible  hand.  The  rapid  gyrations 
and  scintillations  of  light  and  blending  colors  are 
intensely  bewildering  and  superbly  beautiful.  The 
whole  phenomena  of  waving  wreaths,  flickering  flames, 
rays,  curtains,  fringes,  bands,  and  flashing  colors,  the 
strange  confusion  of  light  and  motion,  now  high  in  the 
heavens,  then  dropping  like  curtains  of  gold  and  silver 
lace,  sparkling  with  a  wealth  of  rubies,  sapphires, 
emeralds,  and  diamonds,  penetrating  dark  gulches, 
and  darting  through  sombre  green  forests,  lighting  the 
whole  landscape  as  with  tens  of  thousands  of  electric 
lamps,  form  a  picture  of  which  words  can  convey  but 
a  very  poor  idea.  And  yet  in  all  this  light,  beautiful 
as  it  is,  there  is  no  warmth.  As  it  flashes  along  the 
frozen  rivers,  and  reveals  the  huge  mountains  of  glis- 
tening ice,  it  only  causes  one  to  button  his  coat  closer 
over  his  chest,  and  with  a  shiver  he  is  glad  to  seek 
a  light  of  less  brilliancy,  but  of  life-giving  warmth. 


398  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

All  the  lights  of  worldliness  are  like  the  aurora  of  the 
Arctic.  No  matter  how  brilliant  they  may  be,  they 
have  no  power  to  give  saving  warmth  to  the  soul. 
Jesus  Christ,  the  "Sun  of  Righteousness,"  who  rises 
in  his  resurrection  glory  upon  our  hearts,  has  warmth 
and  healing  in  his  beams.  The  glory  of  his  presence 
"  will  swallow  up  death  in  victory, "  and  the  warmth 
of  his  love  will  chase  "tears  from  off  all  faces." 


TRANSFORMING  OUR  NATURES. 

Dr.  A.  E.  Brehm,  in  The  Popular  Science  Monthly, 
tells  the  story  of  a  baboon  which  he  kept  as  a  pet  in 
his  home  in  Germany.  The  baboon  at  first  concen- 
trated her  tenderness  upon  the  children  of  the  village, 
but,  to  her  great  sorrow,  they  were  all  afraid  of  her. 
Then  she  turned  to  cats  and  dogs,  and  teased  and  tor- 
mented them  in  every  way.  One  bright  little  kitten, 
which  most  of  the  time  she  carried  in  her  arms,  was 
tired  one  day  of  her  company,  and  attempted  to  es- 
cape. The  ape  strongly  objected;  and  the  kitten,  in 
its  struggle,  scratched  her  in  the  shoulder.  Gravely 
the  baboon  seized  one  of  the  paws  of  her  pet,  exam- 
ined it  carefully,  and,  evidently  regarding  the  sharp 
claws  as  a  dangerous  superfluity  in  so  small  a  being, 
deliberately  bit  them  all  off  one  by  one.  That  is  the 
idea  some  people  have  of  reformation.  But  Jesus 
Christ  goes  far  deeper  than  that.  He  transforms  our 
nature  not  by  destroying  our  passions  and  appetites 
and  tempers,  but  by  purifying  our  hearts,  and  setting 
all  our  powers  to  the  defense  of  righteousness.     The 


WHERE  ARE  YOUR  TREASURES  f         399 

ideal  Christian  manhood  is  not  obtained  by  marring 
and  maiming  our  nature,  but  by  bringing  all  into  har- 
mony with  the  spirit  of  Christ. 

CHARACTER  BUILDING. 

There  was  a  great  deal  of  curiosity  aroused  at  one 
time  in  society  circles  in  Naples,  Italy,  concerning  a 
beautiful  shaft  of  Carrara  marble  which  had  been  set 
up  in  the  cemetery  there,  and  on  which  the  leading 
sculptors  were  constantly  at  work,  beautifying  it  with 
delicate  designs  in  subtile  carvings.  Its  splendid  art 
and  magnificence  aroused  the  admiration  of  critics, 
and,  as  there  was  no  name  on  it,  its  unknown  destiny 
kindled  widespread  curiosity  and  interest.  But  later 
all  curiosity  was  satisfied  when  a  sculptor's  chisel 
carved  the  name  "  Crispi  "  near  the  base.  They  knew 
then  it  was  to  mark  the  resting-place  of  the  great 
Italian  statesman  when  his  life-work  was  ended. 
This  suggests  a  significant  truth.  Every  one  of  us  is 
building  up  steadily  and  surely  a  character,  either 
good  and  beautiful  or  ugly  and  repulsive,  that  is  to  be 
a  more  enduring  monument  than  ever  was  carved  from 
a  block  of  Carrara  marble.  On  what  ideal  are  we 
forming  it? 

WHERE  ARE  YOUR  TREASURES? 

A  miser  in  Chicago  was  so  suspicious  of  everybody 
that  he  would  not  trust  his  money  in  the  bank,  but 
buried  it  in  his  cellar.     One  night  some  thieves  broke 


400  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

into  the  cellar  and  dug  up  every  inch  of  sand  and  dirt 
until  they  found  his  box  of  gold  and  carried  it  away. 
The  poor  old  fellow  was  nearly  crazy  over  his  loss. 
But  the  old  man  has  many  people  following  his  ex- 
ample in  the  care  of  priceless  treasures.  How  many 
there  are  who  are  laying  away  all  their  treasures  in 
the  sand  and  dirt  of  this  earthly  cellar,  when  heaven's 
strong  vaults  are  offered  to  us  for  their  safe  keeping. 
Jesus  says :  "  Lay  not  up  for  yourselves  treasures 
upon  earth,  where  moth  and  rust  doth  corrupt,  and 
where  thieves  break  through  and  steal :  but  lay  up  for 
yourselves  treasures  in  heaven,  where  neither  moth 
nor  rust  doth  corrupt,  and  where  thieves  do  not  break 
through  nor  steal :  for  where  your  treasure  is,  there 
will  your  heart  be  also." 

SAVING  OR  LOSING. 

Dr.  Nansen,  the  great  Norwegian  explorer,  was 
greatly  honored  in  London.  Seven  thousand  distin- 
guished people  gathered  to  cheer  him,  while  the  Prince 
of  Wales  presented  to  him  the  medal  of  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society.  To  Nansen  what  a  contrast  it 
must  have  seemed  to  the  loneliness  and  cold  and  dan- 
ger of  the  arctic  solitudes  where  this  honor  was  earned. 
There  is  no  easy  way  to  greatness.  That  which  is 
worth  having  costs  heavily.  This  is  true  also  in  the 
spiritual  world.  How  clearly  Christ  sets  forth  this 
truth:  "For  whosoever  shall  save  his  life  shall  lose 
it :  but  whosoever  shall  lose  his  life  for  my  sake,  the 
same  shall  save  it." 


HELP  THAT  COMES  TOO  LATE.  401 


THE  BREAD  OF  LIFE. 

Th9re  has  been  a  good  deal  of  comment  on  the  lack 
of  cleanliness  on  the  part  of  the  bakers.  Some  of  the 
bakeshops  in  the  city  of  Brooklyn  were  closed  by  the 
State  Factory  Inspector  on  this  account.  It  is,  of 
course,  very  important  that  the  room  where  bread  is 
made  should  be  clean,  and  that  the  men  and  women 
who  make  it  should  be  cleanly  in  their  habits.  But 
how  much  more  important  it  is  that  all  who  handle 
the  Bread  of  Life,  whether  ministers  or  laymen,  should 
have  clean  hands  and  pure  hearts,  that  no  infection 
of  worldliness  or  sin  may  cling  to  the  sacred  food. 

HELP  THAT  COMES  TO  LATE. 

Some  gentlemen  interested  themselves  in  securing 
pardon  for  a  young  fellow  who  had  been  sent  to  prison 
at  Sing  Sing,  nine  years  ago,  on  a  thirty-year  sentence 
for  a  comparatively  small  offense.  The  young  man's 
life  in  prison  showed  that  he  was  not  a  criminal  at 
heart,  and  efforts  were  made  to  secure  a  pardon  and 
give  him  one  chance  more  to  make  a  man  of  himself. 
But  the  matter  was  not  pressed  very  urgently,  and  the 
poor  fellow  watched  in  vain  day  after  day,  until  he 
lost  heart.  Finally  the  Governor  granted  the  pardon, 
but,  alas !  it  arrived  in  Sing  Sing  the  day  after  he  had 
died  of  a  broken  heart.  How  many  weary  souls  there 
are  outside  of  prisons,  in  respectable  walks  of  life, 
who  need  words  of  kindness,  of  sympathy  and  for- 
26 


402  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

giveness.  Let  us  not  wait  until  to-morrow  to  speak 
them.  Beware  of  waiting  until  your  help  comes  too 
late! 

OPPORTUNITY. 

A  good  rendering  of  the  word  opportunity  is  "  Op- 
posite a  port."  Any  sailor  knows  that  when  you  are 
opposite  the  port  it  is  best  to  sail  in  at  once,  for  if 
you  drift  by  the  harbor's  mouth,  it  may  be  well-nigh 
impossible  to  beat  back  against  the  wind  and  current. 
God  has  put  the  spirit  of  missions  into  all  his  crea- 
tion. One  thing  ministers  to  another  throughout  all 
nature.  It  is  said  that  even  the  wasps,  when  they 
find  honey,  go  to  tell  others  about  it.  Surely  we 
ought  to  be  better  than  the  wasps,  and  joyfully  carry 
the  Gospel  honey  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

BOARDING  THE  SHIP  A  SECOND  TIME. 

During  January,  1897,  a  British  bark  was  in  awful 
peril  on  the  Vancouver  coast  near  Cape  Beale.  For 
four  days  the  captain  saw  neither  sun  nor  stars  on  ac- 
count of  dense  fog.  One  day,  at  noon,  a  shout  of 
"  Breakers  ahead !  "  was  the  first  warning  he  had  of 
the  dangerous  position  in  which  he  was  placed.  A 
heavy  sea  was  running  at  the  time,  and  an  attempt  to 
weather  the  ship  proved  futile.  The  anchors  were 
then  let  go,  and,  as  the  big  ship  rounded,  one  of  the 
cables  parted,  leaving  her  within  one  hundred  feet  of 
the  shore  and  in  immediate  danger  of  parting  the  other 
cable.     Breakers  were  running  forty  feet  high,  and  as 


A  MORAL  DERELICT.  403 

there  was  no  possibility,  apparently,  of  saving  the 
vessel,  it  was  finally  decided  to  launch  the  boats  and 
attempt  to  reach  shore.  Several  boats  were  capsized 
as  soon  as  launched,  but  finally  the  officers  and  crew 
of  thirty-three  men  escaped  safely  through  the  surf. 
The  sailors  spent  the  night  under  the  upturned  life- 
boat. In  the  morning  the  weather  had  moderated, 
and  as,  to  their  great  astonishment  and  delight,  the 
ship  still  headed  to  her  anchor,  the  captain  and  crew 
boarded  her,  and,  setting  sail,  soon  escaped  from  the 
dangerous  position.  Let  no  man  give  up  because  he 
has  been  shipwrecked  and  cast  ashore.  Board  the 
Gospel  ship  again  and  set  sail.  Peter  did  that  after 
his  shipwreck,  and  God  gave  him  a  great  host  to  bring 
with  him  into  the  harbor  of  heaven. 

A  MORAL  DERELICT. 

It  is  said  that  between  Fire  Island  and  the  southern 
end  of  Ireland  are  ten  wrecks  in  the  line  taken  by 
steamers  sailing  to  and  from  New  York.  These  dere- 
licts, as  they  are  called,  are  the  hulls  of  wrecked  ves- 
sels that,  tho  they  show  but  little  or  nothing  above 
the  water,  form  a  fearful  peril  for  the  ocean  steamer. 
There  is  perhaps  no  danger  in  ocean  travel  that  gives 
the  steamer  captain  so  much  serious  anxiety  as  the 
derelict.  Alas !  there  are  many  moral  derelicts  in  our 
churches.  Their  names  are  on  the  church-roUs,  but 
they  are  water-soaked  and  water-logged  with  worldli- 
ness.  They  carry  no  flag  and  no  light,  but  they  are 
dangerous  to  run  against.     It  ought  to  be  our  purpose 


404  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

not  to  drift  with  the  currents,  but  to  sail  somewhere 
with  a  definite  purpose.  The  drifting  soul  is  always 
a  danger  to  others  as  well  as  in  deadly  peril  itself. 

TRAITORS  ABOARD  THE  SHIP. 

The  steamer  Commodore,  which  was  sunk  off  the 
coast  of  Florida  while  on  her  way  to  carry  aid  to  the 
Cubans,  it  is  thought  was  sent  to  the  bottom  by  the 
hand  of  a  treacherous  enemy  on  board  the  ship.  Two 
men  who  claimed  to  be  friends  of  the  enterprise  scut- 
tled the  vessel,  after  having  removed  the  valves  from 
the  pumps  so  that  the  crew  could  not  save  themselves. 
Beware  of  treachery  in  your  own  heart.  How  often 
we  hear  it  said  of  some  man,  "  He  is  his  own  worst 
enemy."  It  is  never  safe  to  harbor  an  evil  habit,  or 
a  lurking  thought  which  is  treacherous  to  the  main 
purpose  of  our  lives.  In  the  midst  of  the  storm,  oif 
a  rocky  coast,  the  cherished  secret  sin  will  scuttle  the 
ship  and  send  us  to  the  bottom. 

KNOWN  BY  HIS  LIMP. 

A  man  recently  escaped  from  jail,  but  in  doing  so 
injured  his  leg  in  getting  over  the  prison  wall. 
About  the  only  thing  the  police  had  to  go  by,  in  help- 
ing them  to  capture  him,  was  the  knowledge  that  he 
limped,  and  it  was  his  limp  that  caused  his  arrest. 
How  many  of  us,  in  a  moral  way,  are  known  by  our 
limp.  An  ugly  temper,  a  habit  of  sneering  at  another's 
success,  a  critical,  gossipy  spirit,  a  carelessness  about 


A  SNOW -BLOCKED  SWITCH.  405 

truthful  statement,  a  reputation  for  relating  salacious 
stories,  or  a  soft  spot  of  self-indulgence — some  limp 
that  the  world  sees  far  more  clearly  even  than  we  do. 
Christ  sees  our  imperfections,  too,  but  he  is  sensitive 
to  them  with  the  feeling  of  the  physician  who  is  able 
to  heal  them. 


THE  POWER  OF  DISCIPLINE. 

The  power  of  discipline  was  not  long  ago  illustrated 
at  the  House  of  Kefuge  on  Randall's  Island.  But  for 
it,  six  hundred  young  boys  would  have  been  thrown 
into  a  panic  and  many  lives  lost.  Tho  they  were 
aroused  out  of  slumber  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
the  signal  for  fire-drill  was  given  and  the  well-disci- 
plined lads  fell  to  their  places  and  were  marched  out 
of  the  building  in  safety.  If  we  are  to  do  good  work 
for  humanity,  we  must  discipline  ourselves  to  regular 
effort.  It  is  the  steady  onward  push  of  the  disciplined 
purpose  that  counts  in  the  struggle  of  life. 

A  SNOW-BLOCKED  SWITCH. 

A  serious  accident  was  caused  on  the  elevated  rail- 
road in  Brooklyn  not  long  since  by  a  snow-blocked 
switch.  The  snow  had  so  packed  in  and  blocked  the 
switch  that  it  would  not  work,  and  the  result  was  the 
collision  of  two  trains.  In  Christian  work,  as  in  han- 
dling railroad  trains,  it  is  very  important  to  keep  the 
switches  open.  Our  silent,  unseen  influence  is  all 
the  time  switching  immortal  travelers  to  the  right  or 


406  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

the  left.  The  snow  of  indifference  or  worldliness 
must  not  be  allowed  to  gather  in  our  hearts  or  freeze 
up  our  Christlike  devotion  to  duty. 

A  LOST  CROWN. 

The  presence  in  Washington  of  ex-Queen  Liliuoka- 
lani,  of  Hawaii,  was  made  an  occasion  of  newspaper 
gossip  and  jest  and  scoff.  There  does  not  seem  to  be 
anything  more  utterly  without  a  place  in  the  world 
than  a  dethroned  queen  or  king.  While  they  are  on 
the  throne  there  are  plenty  to  do  them  reverence,  and 
their  power  for  good  or  ill  is  very  great;  but  when 
the  crown  is  taken  from  their  heads  their  situation  is 
pitiful  indeed.  This  should  suggest  to  us  the  empha- 
sis we  ought  to  put  on  the  earnest  words  of  Christ, 
"  Let  no  man  take  thy  crown." 

HOW  THE  CHINOOK  WIND  COMES. 

The  "  chinook  "  is  a  piercing  wind  that  blows  over 
the  great  plateaus  of  eastern  Oregon  and  Washington, 
and  will  sometimes  melt  a  foot  of  snow  in  a  single 
night,  changing  the  temperature  many  degrees  within 
a  few  hours.  Sometimes  the  coming  of  Christianity 
to  a  nation  is  like  that.  It  has  been  that  way  in  Ja- 
pan, where  the  old  religions  have  seemed  to  break 
down  within  a  few  years,  and  Christian  civilization  to 
come  upon  the  people  like  a  chinook  wind  on  the 
northern  snow-fields.  The  warm  wind  of  the  Gospel 
is  always  blowing,  and  the  snow-fields  and  icebergs 


A  SCOTCH  STEWARDESS.  407 

of  heathenism  will  steadily  give  way  before  it  until 
"  Jesus  shall  reign  where'er  the  sun  doth  his  succes- 
sive journeys  run." 

A  SCOTCH  STEWARDESS. 

Two  women  were  traveling  alone  across  the  Atlan- 
tic. It  was  a  stormy  passage,  and  the  seasickness 
and  fear  caused  them  to  cling  desperately,  as  to  their 
only  friend,  to  the  little  stewardess  who  nursed  them. 
She  was  a  gentle  Scotchwoman,  a  little  past  middle 
age,  and  being  lonely,  too,  in  the  huge,  noisy  steamer, 
her  tongue  was  loosened  by  their  kindness.  They 
very  soon  knew  all  r.bout  the  sweater's  shop  for  which 
she  had  worked  twenty  years  in  Glasgow,  and  how 
some  wonderful  good  luck  had  brought  her  the  chance 
of  this  place,  and  how,  if  she  could  keep  it  for  two 
years  longer,  she  would  have  saved  enough  to  go  back 
to  her  old  mother  in  the  Highlands,  and  live  on  their 
cotter's  patch  in  peace  to  the  end  of  their  days. 

"Mother  is  hoping  for  it,  too.  It  will  be  great 
comfort, "  she  said,  ending  her  story,  her  grave  eyes 
shining.     "  I  will  bring  your  tea  now." 

But  a  strange  woman  brought  the  tea. 

"Where  is  Jean?"  they  asked  impatiently. 

"  The  chief  steward  has  ordered  her  to  another  part 
of  the  ship,"  was  the  reply.  "Two  passengers  are 
ill,  and  she  is  to  nurse  them." 

"They  can  not  need  her  as  much  as  we  do,"  the 
Americans  grumbled;  but  Jean  did  not  come  again. 

On  her  way  for  the  tea,  the  head  steward  had  met 


408  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

her.  "Two  women,"  he  said,  "are  seized  with  what 
the  doctor  hopes  is  only  measles.  They  must  be  iso- 
lated, with  one  stewardess  to  attend  them.  I  have 
chosen  you.     Get  what  is  necessary,  and  come  at  once. " 

"  Must  I  go?  "  Jean  faltered. 

"  You  are  single,  and  the  other  women  have  children 
depending  on  them.  The  disease  may  be  malignant." 
The  man  hesitated,  looking  at  her.  "I  can't  force 
you  to  do  it,"  he  said  gently;  "but  somebody  must 
go." 

Jean  stood  a  minute.  She  saw  the  old  mother  at 
the  door  of  the  little  cottage.  So  many  years  she  had 
worked  for  her. 

"Yes,  I  will  go,"  she  said  quietly. 

A  few  minutes  later  she  passed  into  the  hospital- 
room,  carrying  a  bundle,  and  the  heavy  oak  door 
closed  behind  her. 

The  fact  that  the  two  patients  were  isolated  was 
kept  secret  in  the  ship,  in  order  that  the  passengers 
should  not  be  alarmed.  They  recovered  sufficiently 
before  the  vessel  reached  port  for  her  to  escape  quar- 
antine. 

"There  were  no  other  patients?"  the  examining 
physician  demanded. 

"  But  one, "  replied  the  captain ;  "  their  nurse.  She 
was  not  strong,  and  succumbed  at  once." 

"You  are  fortunate;  I  can  pass  you." 

Days  before  the  ship  reached  harbor,  a  plain,  wooden 
box  was  brought  on  deck,  one  evening,  and,  after  a 
brief,  hurried  service,  slid  into  the  sea. 

"Who  is  dead? "  asked  a  startled  passenger. 


FAMILY  TREASURES  IN  A  JUNK-SHOP.     409 

"Only  one  of  the  stewardesses,"  was  the  reply. 

One's  heart  breaks  over  that  simple  story ^  and  yet 
it  is  only  a  faint  suggestion  of  the  wondrous  sacrifice 
which  Jesus  Christ  made  on  the  cross  for  us.  The 
noble  little  Scotch  stewardess  had  a  chance  of  escap- 
ing the  disease,  and  these  were  her  sisters  for  whom 
she  risked  her  life.  But  Jesus  Christ  laid  aside  all 
the  glory  of  heaven,  and  came  down  into  the  hospital- 
room  of  our  poor  sin-sick  world,  and  died  in  our  stead. 
It  seems  strange  that  there  is  any  human  heart  so  hard 
that  it  does  not  melt  at  the  slight  of  the  Cross. 


FAMILY  TREASURES   IN   A  JUNK-SHOP. 

A  wealthy  man  of  New  York  City  has  a  summer 
mansion  up  the  Hudson,  and  also  a  residence  in  the 
city.  Desiring  to  return  to  the  city  late  in  the  season, 
he  directed  his  butler  to  clean  up  the  house  from  top 
to  bottom,  and  get  it  ready  for  the  family.  The  but- 
ler, in  the  course  of  his  house-cleaning,  came  upon  a 
lot  of  old  papers  and  books,  stowed  away  in  the  attic, 
and,  thinking  they  were  only  rubbish,  sold  them  to  a 
junk-dealer  for  two  cents  a  pound.  But  they  proved 
to  be  most  sacred  family  relics,  that  were  priceless  in 
their  value  to  the  family,  and  were  finally  rescued 
through  the  junk-dealer  selling  some  of  them  to  a 
historical  society.  How  many  people  there  are  who 
are  bartering  away  priceless  treasures  as  tho  they 
were  only  rubbish.  Many  a  young  man  has  bartered 
away  his  purity  and  innocency  of  soul,  thinking,  as 
Solomon  says,   that  "  Stolen  waters  are  sweet,   and 


410  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

bread  eaten  in  secret  is  pleasant.  But  he  knoweth  not 
that  the  dead  are  there ;  and  that  her  guests  are  in 
the  depths  of  hell." 

CHRISTIANITY   AND   THE  X-RAYS. 

Wonderful  things  are  happening  these  days  in  sur- 
gery by  the  aid  of  the  X-rays.  In  a  hospital  in 
Bridgeport,  Conn.,  a  woman  who  was  born  blind  has 
been  given  her  sight  through  a  surgical  operation 
which  was  only  made  possible  by  the  aid  of  this  new 
and  wonderful  light.  When  John's  disciples  came  to 
Jesus  asking  for  proofs  of  his  Messiahship,  he  told 
them  to  go  back  and  tell  John  that  the  blind  had  re- 
ceived sight  at  his  touch.  The  world  was  never  so 
full  of  evidences  of  the  divinity  of  Christianity  as  it  is 
now.  Every  hospital  and  every  invention  to  relieve 
human  suffering  bears  testimony  to  the  divine  mission 
of  the  "  Great  Physician. " 

A   HEROIC   YOUNG   PRINTER. 

Nicholas  Doyle,  working  in  a  printing  office  in  New 
Brimswick,  N.  J.,  was  known  in  the  office  as  the 
printer's  "devil,"  but  proved  himself  a  noble  young 
hero  when  the  building  in  which  he  worked  was  on 
fire.  The  fire  originated  in  the  press-room,  and  Doyle 
discovered  it.  Despite  the  danger,  he  rushed  up- 
stairs, through  the  thick  smoke,  and  went  to  every 
department  giving  the  alarm,  and  did  not  think  of 
trying  to  save  himself  until  all  the  rest  were  safe. 


A  BRAVE  POLICEMAN.  411 

By  that  time  escape  was  cut  off  by  the  stairway,  and 
he  was  compelled  to  jump  from  the  second-story  win- 
dow, but  fortunately  was  not  badly  hurt.  He  saved 
twenty  lives  by  his  unselfish  heroism.  Christian  hero- 
ism is  like  that,  in  that  its  chief  glory  is  in  its  unself- 
ishness. To  think  first  of  others  and  put  ourselves 
last  is  to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  Jesus. 

A   BRA\E   POLICEMAN. 

A  horse  ran  away  on  Third  Avenue,  New  York 
City,  with  a  two-wheeled  gig  attached  to  it.  He  had 
already  hurt  several  people,  and,  with  the  wrecked 
gig  pounding  away  at  his  heels,  was  frantic,  and 
plunged  still  more  wildly  down  the  crowded  street. 
Policeman  Johns  saw  the  runaway  coming,  and  deter- 
mined to  stop  it  at  whatever  peril  to  himself.  He 
stationed  himself  directly  in  line,  and  as  the  horse 
drew  near  threw  himself  at  his  head  and  grasped  the 
head-stall  with  both  hands.  Those  who  saw  the  act 
gasped.  They  expected  to  see  the  policeman  trodden 
under  foot.  The  horse  did  his  best  to  shake  off  the 
heavy  man,  but  Johns  hung  on.  He  was  dragged 
clear  across  the  bridge  to  the  Harlem  side.  Then  his 
weight  won  the  victory,  and  he  slowly  pulled  the 
horse  to  a  halt.  Others  ran  up  and  held  it,  and  the 
policeman,  exhausted,  fell  to  the  street  at  the  feet  of 
the  animal  he  had  conquered.  His  prompt  and  daring 
heroism  had  no  doubt  saved  several  lives.  It  was  like 
that  that  Jesus  Christ  threw  himself  before  our  wild 
and  headlong  race  when  it  was  going  recklessly  to 


412  ANECDOTES  AND  3I0RALS. 

ruin,  and  tho  he  was  trampled  to  death,  he  con- 
quered death  and  the  grave,  and  lives  forevermore  to 
intercede  for  poor  sinners.  Every  once  in  a  while 
there  is  a  man  like  John  Howard,  or  William  Lloyd 
Garrison,  or  a  woman  like  Dorothea  Dix,  or  Florence 
Nightingale,  or  Clara  Barton,  with  so  much  of  the 
spirit  of  Christ  that  they  throw  themselves,  with 
seemingly  reckless  self-sacrifice,  to  stop  the  waste  of 
human  life.  Such  heroic  personalities,  possessed  by 
the  spirit  of  Christ,  are  the  saviors  of  their  times. 

STRANDED   ON   THE   MUD-FLATS. 

Three  men  undertook  to  sail  from  Barren  Island  to 
Canarsie  in  Long  Island.  As  the  tide  was  very  high, 
they  attempted  to  sail  across  what  is  known  as  the 
"■  slop-meadows, "  thinking  the  high  tide  would  carry 
them  safely  anywhere.  They  were  caught,  however, 
on  the  mud-flats,  and  were  compelled  to  remain  out 
in  the  rain  all  night.  The  simple  incident  suggests 
the  annoyance  and  mortification  which  a  great  many 
people  meet  in  forsaking  the  simple  channels  of  life, 
which  are  not  only  safe  but  which  are  well  known  to 
them,  and  seeking  to  float  upon  the  high  tide  of  ex- 
travagance, or  social  vanity,  which  is  often  so  alluring. 
Nothing  is  more  pitiable  than  to  see  a  farmer  have  to 
mortgage  his  farm,  and  after  a  while  be  compelled  to 
give  it  up  to  strangers,  because  his  vanity  prompted 
him  to  build  the  finest  farmhouse  in  the  comniunit}- ; 
or  to  see  a  well-to-do  business  man  going  into  bank- 
ruptcy, and  settling  with  his  creditors  at  fifty  cents 


AN  EEL  THAT  STOPPED  A   TRAIN.         413 

on  the  dollar,  to  satisfy  the  whims  of  his  family  in 
their  desire  to  shine  in  a  social  set  which  regards  them 
as  interlopers.  The  happiest  as  well  as  the  most  use- 
ful life  in  the  world  is  one  of  straightforward  simplic- 
ity which  affects  nothing  but  does  its  best,  and  shines 
because  it  is  genuine. 

SAVED  OTHERS  BUT  COULD  NOT  SAVE  HERSELF. 

A  little  girl  eleven  years  old,  who  was  doing  the 
housework  in  her  home  in  Elizabeth,  IST.  J.,  during 
the  sickness  of  her  mother,  was  suddenly  horrified  to 
see  that  her  little  baby  brother  had  upset  the  lamp, 
and  his  clothing  had  taken  fire.  She  determined  to 
save  the  child,  and  ran  with  him  to  a  lounge,  scream- 
ing for  help.  She  rolled  him  over  and  over  until 
the  flames  were  put  out,  altho  her  own  clothing  had 
taken  fire'and  she  was  being  burned  to  death  while 
she  was  making  sure  of  the  baby's  safety.  She  saved 
the  baby  and  he  was  not  badly  burned,  but  the  heroic 
girl  died  after  a  few  hours.  The  brave  little  girl  was 
living  in  the  spirit  of  Him  who,  when  he  was  hanging 
upon  the  cross,  was  mocked  by  his  persecutors,  with 
the  insulting  challenge  that  was  truer  than  they 
knew,  " He  saved  others;  himself  he  can  not  save." 

AN   EEL   THAT   STOPPED   A    TRAIN. 

A  fast  express  train  on  the  Delaware  and  Lacka- 
wanna Railroad  was  brought  to  a  standstill  one  eve- 
ning in  a  strange  way.     The  fireman  found  that  it 


414  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 

was  impossible  to  keep  up  steam.  Examination 
showed  that  only  a  very  small  amount  of  water  was 
coming  through  the  feed-pipe.  The  train  was  stopped, 
and  a  further  investigation  was  made,  with  the  result 
of  discovering  a  big  eel  in  the  pipe.  The  stranger 
was  alive  and  wriggling,  but  the  engineer  soon  de- 
spatched him,  and  brought  him  along  as  proof  of  his 
story  of  the  cause  of  his  being  late.  The  eel  had 
probably  been  sucked  up  into  the  water  tank  when 
quite  small.  Many  a  train  of  righteous  influence, 
making  for  the  salvation  of  men,  has  been  stopped  by 
an  equally  insignificant  c^use.  We  must  beware  of 
little  things  that  will  shut  off  our  supply  of  spiritual 
power.  There  must  be  no  wriggling  eel  of  selfishness 
in  the  spiritual  feed-pipe. 

THE   BEST   INVESTMENT. 

The  best  place  to  invest  one's  energy  and  ability  is 
in  the  bettering  of  human  lives.  It  is  sad  indeed  to 
see  men  or  women  who  have  passed  by  all  the  oppor- 
tunities of  enlarging  and  enriching  character  that 
would  go  on  with  blessed  influence,  and  have  invested 
their  all  in  money,  which  only  surrounds  them  with  a 
horde  of  greedy  paupers  and  sharks  who  seek  to  prey 
upon  them.  In  the  Fair  will  case  in  San  Francisco 
the  physician  who  attended  the  millionaire  in  his  last 
illness  testified  to  a  series  of  incidents  which  would 
have  made  a  fitting  picture  for  Hogarth's  pencil. 
Not  one  of  Mr.  Fair's  children  was  at  his  death-bed. 
Only  hired  attendants  were  present.     The  valet  was 


FROZEN  HYDRANTS.  416 

drunk.  His  confidential  bookkeeper  and  his  collec- 
tion agent  would  seize  the  drunken  valet  every  time 
he  came  out  of  the  room,  eagerly  asking,  "  Is  the  old 
man  dying?  How  much  longer  will  he  last?"  Finally 
the  valet  reported  that  Mr.  Fair  was  actually  in  the 
throes  of  death,  when  these  two  rushed  in.  They 
paid  no  heed  to  the  pitiful  figure  on  the  bed,  gasping 
for  breath,  but  hastily  gathered  up  all  the  papers,  ac- 
count-books, and  other  documents  that  were  in  the 
safe  and  bureaus,  even  the  personal  belongings  of  the 
millionaire.  How  much  better  if  this  rich  man  had 
put  his  riches  into  streams  of  intellectual  and  spiritual 
blessings  that  would  not  only  have  refreshed  his  own 
nature  but  have  made  his  life  a  rich  blessing  to  the 
world !  Greed  is  the  poorest  investment  any  man  can 
make. 

FROZEN   HYDRANTS. 

In  one  of  our  large  cities  a  fire  that  with  proper  re- 
sources could  have  been  quickly  extinguished  spread 
to  enormous  proportions  and  destroyed  a  large  amount 
of  property  because  the  firemen  found  the  water  frozen 
in  the  first  hydrants  they  undertook  to  use.  Eevivals 
of  religion  and  attempts  to  put  out  the  fires  of  sin  in 
the  community  are  often  hindered  in  the  same  way. 
The  hydrant  of  the  water  of  life  in  some  minister  or 
layman  who  stands  in  the  necessary  relation  to  the 
work  in  hand  is  frozen  up.  It  is  a  terrible  thing  to 
have  people  depend  on  us  and  resort  to  us  in  time  of 
great  need,  and  have  only  a  frozen  heart  to  show  them. 


416  ANECDOTES  AND  MORALS. 


THE   ICE-RINGS   ON   TREES   AND   HEARTS. 

Traveling  through  the  Mohawk  Valley  on  a  railroad 
train  when  the  ice  was  breaking  up,  it  was  interesting 
to  notice  that  where  the  valley  had  been  overflowed 
by  the  river  the  high-water  mark  on  the  trees  growing 
in  the  valley  was  a  huge  circle  of  ice  around  the  trunk 
of  the  tree.  The  ice  had  frozen  there  when  the  river 
was  high,  and  when  it  fell  away  this  huge  ring  of  ice 
remained.  The  trees  looked  very  odd  with  these  ice- 
rings,  many  feet  above  the  present  stage  of  the  water. 
As  I  looked  at  them,  however,  it  seemed  to  me  they 
illustrated  the  condition  of  a  great  many  people  whom 
we  meet  in  churches,  in  whom  religion  at  some  time 
has  been  at  high-water  mark,  and  they  have  retained 
certain  ice-rings  of  reminiscence,  which  they  are  al- 
ways exhibiting,  but  the  current  of  spiritual  life  no 
longer  surges  in  their  hearts.  It  is  always  a  pitiful 
sight. 


KINDNESS  AND  JUSTICE  IN  THE  LABOR  WORLD. 

The  proverb  of  Solomon  that  a  soft  answer  turneth 
away  wrath  is  not  more  true  in  personal  relations  than 
in  the  larger  affairs  of  social  intercourse.  In  these 
days,  when  the  papers  are  filling  up  again  with  the 
rumors  of  strikes,  and  strife  between  labor  and  capi- 
tal, it  is  very  comforting  as  well  as  interesting  to  no- 
tice the  splendid  success  which  attended  Commissioner 
Waring' s    "Labor  Senate,"   which   he   organized   in 


JUSTICE  IN  THE  LABOR  WORLD.  417 

the  Street-Cleaning  Department  of  New  York  City. 
Under  this  arrangement  all  complaints,  grievances, 
petitions,  or  suggestions  for  improvement  came  before 
a  committee  of  forty-one,  which  was  selected  by  the 
men  themselves.  The  result  was  that  the  streets  never 
were  so  clean  in  the  history  of  the  city,  and  that 
peace  and  mutual  respect  reigned  throughout  the  de- 
partment. Nothing  works  so  well  as  applied  Chris- 
tianity in  human  affairs. 
27 


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Date  Due 


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